Archeotech 2 – Characters and Setting

[Trokair]

 

This Thread is for Player Character bios as well as some general Setting information so as to be easily accessible and not get buried in the Story thread. Questions, discussion and similar should be in the OOC thread found here.

 

The original thread for the first game attempt can be found here. Though I have brought forward all information I thought was relevant.

 

 

Character generation

Character generation should be done in accordance with the rules in Dark Hersey Core Rule Book, don’t forget to check the Errata v3 for the updates therein.

 

Players will start with 500 XP to spend (instead of the 400 stated in the book) for a little extra flexibility on character generation. This dose mean that characters will be level 2 post generation, but you are restricted to rank 1 and stats advance table during character generation.

 

Character sheets (courtesy of @Lysimachus) are in a google shared folder (link will be PMed shortly). Please rename the sheet to include your character name but leave your B&C names in brackets so that I can more easily see which sheet is which.   

 

 

List of Characters

Players:

• Aria (A.T.)
• Varn (Machine God)
• Helene Von Herz (Petragor)
• Ravia Phi-Ro (Lord_Ikka)
• Kasimir Twiceborn (TechCaptain)

NPC:

•  Arch Magos Ilmarnin
• 500A6500 ‘David’ – Goliath Truck
• Eadwin Von Herz - Overseer East Expedition

 

 

 

Setting

 

Norombearg

 

A Terra like planet first settled in the Age of Darkness and rediscovered and resettled by Imperial forces in late M32. Aside from some ruins of clearly human origin no trace of the original inhabitants was found. Norombearg is primarily Agri world that is showing the very early stages of developing into a Hive World. Einerzen, the planetary capital, and several other cities have been forming up into proto hives over the last millennia of the back of mining and industry development. 

 

Outside these proto hives the landscape is a mixture of semi industrialized, large scale farming collectives and extensive sways of wilderness. A little over half the planet’s surface is covered by water, in several large oceans, extensive inland sees and everything in-between.

 

Ranging from tropical climates at the equator to arctic condition at the poles Norombearg is very suited for comfortable standard human conditions. Extensive designated ‘Natural Parks’ keep some of the best wilderness in a low developed state, for the enjoyment of the populous and off world visitors, and especially the nobility and other wealthy individuals, many of who have summer estates in these areas.

 

A significant source of wealth for Norombearg is its extensive orbital docks as it has become a trading hub along many important routes across the subsector and beyond. Here you can find almost everything and anything.

 

Orealis

A smaller continent/very large island (depending on definition) mostly in the Temperate zone in the northern hemisphere where the game will take place. Along the southern edge lie several cities, including Keringrat, region capital and only proto hive on Orealis, where our game will begin. The coastal regions are well settled and utilized, but further inland from the coast population centers are sparser and an even further in that wilderness begins. Only about 2% of the planetary population live on Orealis and the vast majority of those in Keringrat and its immediate surroundings.

 

Maps 

 

Spoiler

This map is a height map, dark green near sea level ranging to red for tallest mountain, with relief and terrain marking added (mountain, hill forest, grassland etc) to make it slightly more intuitive.

 

 

This is the same map with a Biomes filter applied, this goes further than just the relief in terms of detailing the kind of landscape there is.    

 

This last map is a segment of Orealis with Keringrat marked for reference.

 

 

 

 

Arch Magos Ilmarnin of the Ordo Reductor and the grand expedition of 448.M41*

 

Late in the year 447.M41 an unusual ship arrived in orbit over Norombearg, and Ark Mechanicus, though a small example of its kind, still dwarfed all other ships in the orbital dockyards and parking orbits. The Ordo Reductor had come to this peaceful subsector. Initial panic at the arrival of a warship that was not a member of the sectors Imperial Navy where soon put to rest as Arch Magos Ilmarnin announced he was just here to resupply.

 

In truth he was here for more than that, but as this was an Imperial World he could not just descend to the surface and seek the promised treasure.  Petitioning the Imperial Govenor in the coming weeks for access to the planet, and to search for Archeotech amongst the ruins of the first human settlements, the Govennor was all too eager to agree once he had grasp what prize might lie on his world, and what power it could bring him and his family if he could seize it.

 

Granting the Arch Magos all the relevant permission the Govenor even went further and put half the PDF at the Magos’s disposal to assist with logistics and manpower. However such preparations cannot be made without escaping the attention of the other Nobel Houses, the local Ecclesiarchy and quite frankly anybody and everybody at large.  

 

As the year ticked over into 448.M41 everybody wanted to be part of the expedition and share in the treasure it was to find. The political maneuvering, scandals, alliances and backstabbing and all sorts of political theater threatened to stall the project.

 

Having lost control over the event, and in an attempt to still have some involvement , the Governor was forced to announce that the expedition would be a joint venture not just between his Imperial Government and the Arch Magos of the Ordo Reductor but with anybody who could register with the newly formed Expedition Company. 

 

While the political game continued as every agency and power block tried to gain the upper hand and exclude their rivals there was now a way forward, and by spring the main expedition was gathering on the ground in Keringrat, on the continent Orealis. While pre imperial human ruins had been found all over the planet there were a higher concentration in the hinterland of Orealis and Arch Magos Ilmarnin believed that this is where the first humans made planet fall back in the Age of Darkness.

 

The game will begin in Keringrat, at the mustering ground for the expedition. The main expedition is thousands strong, and will focus on the most promising site.

 

The game itself will follow a smaller expedition, one of many, sent to investigate smaller ruin and other lesser potential sites. 

 

 

*For reference this is just after the first War for Armagedon (not that any of the character should know of this, given all the secrecy about it, and it being half a galaxy away) and before either the Tau or Tyrnaids had been encountered by the Imperium at large.

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Trokair

[A.T.]

Aria - Near-Ghilliam / Rogue Trader Vessel 'Orichalcon' / Assassin
"To war is human”

Born in the void spaces of the Orichalcon, between long sealed substructure and irradiated service tunnels that once serviced the ancient cruisers original cogitators.

Destined to become another of the countless 'ghilliam' scratching out an existence amidst the underdecks of the Imperiums fleet Aria escaped her fate as the Orichalcon burned, rent apart in battle, she was one more child amongst those stragglers that made it to the lifeboats and landers.

Amidst the turmoil of the great conflict that had claimed her home and many others Aria would not find herself delivered to a schola but instead thrust into the heart of the warzone against the great enemy.

Kill or be killed, where others fell away in hesitation Aria walked without remose, a legacy of her dark blood, and a talent for death that was soon noticed.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17mLckfLhu2Cm5DGtTDo6yySQodhaSz2P/

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by A.T.

[Lord_Ikka]

Ravia Phi-Ro - Tech-Priest

 

"We are the Bringers of Blessed Ruin"

The Ordo Reductor takes tech-initiates, enginseers, and even magos and turns them into pitiless destroyers of the enemies of the Omnissiah. For such as Ravia, a child of a forgotten backwater world taken into the Mechanicus because of her aptitude for technology, the Ordo Reductor is both a welcoming home and a sacred calling- to destroy its enemies and create the weapons/tactics to accomplish that task. 

Initially trained as a base copyist and researcher, Ravia has been lifted up by Arch-Magos Ilmarin to begin her ascent into the ranks of the Reductor. Combat data-memes are loaded into her cortical network, electro-grafts and inductors stud her limbs, and chem-geld processes have left her cold to the pleas of her enemies. Her natural skills in logic and reverse-engineering archeotech have been augmented with the ordained destruction-compacts of the Ordo. 

Ravia presents a somewhat strange, though striking figure. Red/brown Mechanicus robes lined with chain armor cover her body, while an unnerving mechanical mask covers her face. When the mask is removed you can see a pale, bald face that shows minor signs of enhancement- eyes bloodshot with data-flows, translucent solar charging panels implanted in her right cheek, and a lower jaw that looks almost human until she speaks. Her mouth moves ever so slightly out of synch with speech and a faint buzz emits underlines every word. Clearly a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Ravia has been augmented in ways more subtle than most of the Ordo Reductor, in ways suitable to interfacing with baseline humans and other Imperial organizations. 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Lord_Ikka

[Petragor]

Helene Von Herz - Redemptionist Cleric

"A mind without purpose will wander in dark places"

 

Despite her noble birth, Helene Von Herz didn't have a very pleasant childhood. This was largely caused by an illness in her infancy, which after an expertly (and expensive) treatment left her with no permanent complication, save a series of Pox Marks running along the right side of her neck. To her parents, their new daughter was nothing but a shameful disgrace, casting doubt upon the purity of their lineage, and they always sought to keep her isolated within their estate, to control the spread of any rumors. Helene's siblings were little comfort, with most of the older ones often being absent as they saw to their own duties, and the younger ones constantly teasing her about being the ugly sibling, despite the fact that Helene was forced to wear a scarf everywhere she went to cover her "imperfection".

As she received little care from her family, and was forbidden to mingle and make friends with other households more than absolutely necessary, Helene spent most of her childhood feeling severely unloved. However, this all changed when her religious education began in earnest. Whenever she was studying the imperial creed, praying in the family chapel, or even singing unseen in the rear of the family choir, she could feel the Emperors love washing over her. It was a feeling of compassion far greater than any of her family had ever afforded her, and Helene soon spent all of the time she could in holy service, hoping to repay the Emperor's kindness.

 

As she grew older and more perceptive, she noticed that the rest of her family didn't worship the Emperor with the same zeal as she did. Rather than serving His Imperium and praising His name in the chapel, they much preferred to serve their own self-interest, and hold frequent, hedonistic celebrations with their noble acquaintances while their pious subject suffered to pay their tithes. Helene did not think that the Emperor would approve of this, and began to voice this opinion to the Ecclesiarchy, as well as rival noble houses. Where her family previously viewed her with disdain, they now saw her as an active threat to their reputation, and Helene fled their territory to avoid their attempts to silence her, and to finally serve the Emperor in a way that mattered.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P9Gb5d6dEywwJj0z17HmaOBTcoo0B_pz/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109946119099475477272&rtpof=true&sd=true

Edited October 23, 2022 by Petragor

[TechCaptain]

Kazimir Twiceborn - Reborn Guardsmen

"Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life."

Kazimir grew up in a family of Factory Dregs and who got drafted into the Hive Militia. The Cogger Hive Guard Mechanized Infantry fights  alongside Chimera and Chimerax armoured personnel carriers in defense of the strategically-located Imperial Hive World of Cogger and its surrounding star systems generally. Cogger, located in the Segmentum Ultima, is a planet blighted and poisoned by millennia of heavy industrial output, though it is also a major manufacturing centre of Autocannons. Kazimir's unit was one of the lucky few that didn't get neural programming at first, then moved on to the Imperial Tithe with the rest of his group. His Regiment eventually got massacred on some planet far off from his homeworld. Having lost most of his skills being rebuilt and one of the few survivors, he was attached to the Archmagos expedition as one of the escorting regiments. 

Kazimir's skin was dark with deep tan but is now pallid with the bionics, and his hair is unnaturally blond with what looks like green dye but for him it is natural hair now. His eyes are lenses, giving his appearance as more than human is obvious.  Etched into the bionics that bulge from his muscles are 'tattoos' of Aquila and the Omnissiah Cog, branding him as a soldier of the Imperium that owes his second life to the Mechanicus Cult. Kazimir was roughly 27 before he was rebuilt. At 1.9 m tall and roughly 95-100 kg he was very well built even before the additional mass was added. 

 

Kasimir Twiceborn (TechCaptain).xlsx - Google Sheets

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by TechCaptain

[Machine God]

Varn - Scum.

 

"Men must die so that Man Endures!"

 

He is the last survivor of his Tribe. Captured as a pet by the Others after his people roamed too far after the herds. He had run and run but he was captured and brought to Their World. Poked and prodded for sport and tests. Brave in this new world Varn had escaped, but he could only run downwards and carve out what a living he could.

 

Begged, borrowed, stole and killed to get to Orealis when he heard about the for the Hunt for Archeotech.

 

The tek.

 

Yet he'd 'remmed the Lej' that the wise ones had sung. Of the bak an' bak, of the Sestas.

 

"We are low, but we are childrun of the Sestas and we will rise.

Look for the Lej, young uns and Ware' the lies of the Others!

 

They false, liars! No nuthin but seem to, they look like us.

Liars, not of Sestas like us!"

 

 

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BJdmQsv44eJJ2BhhZZv9sGWWGMuUB0k-/edit#gid=674219901

Edited November 9, 2022 by Machine God
link to character sheet

[Trokair]

500A6500 ‘David’ – Goliath Truck

 

Type: Ground Vehicle

Tactical Speed: 12 m

Cruising Speed: 85 kph

Manoeuvrability: +0

Size: Enormous

Armour: Front 22, Side 22, Rear 20

Structural Integrity: 20

Special Rules:
Ground Vehicle: This vehicle follows all rules for ground vehicles.

Reliable: Any Tech-Use Test made to repair or restore this vehicle receives a +10 bonus.

 

‘David’ is a repurposed civilian model Goaliath Truck, the right side multipurpose attachment point (where the autocannon sit on the Genestealer cult version) has been fitted with a satellite uplink and coms array. This will allow you to communicate with the Expedition Administration. It also acts as a relay for the teams micro-beads, extending the range from 1km to 3km as long as you are in range of ‘David’ (i.e. within 3km of the Truck).

 

There is space for three in the cabin, one driver, one operator (for the satellite uplink/coms array) and one navigator/lookout (in the raised section, with the option of standing up to look out the top hatch).

 

The back has a frame and canvas cover fitted (imagine your standard military troop transport lorry thing). There is space for the rest of the team on the left side along the bench leading up to the door to the cabin. The right side, the raised platform and all other storage space is filled with supplies and the specialized equipment needed for the investigation of potential sites (ground penetrating radar, remote mapping servo skull, shovels, etc).

 

The supplies include bedroll/blanket for everybody, 1 tent, cooking equipment, PDF surplus basic rations (poor quality) for 3 weeks, vehicle repair kit, extra fuel, 1 spare tyre and so on.     

[Trokair]

Briefing Papers                         

 

+++ Data Lock disengaged +++

 

Team Designation NE

 

Due to insufficient data on the hinterland of landmass designation Orealis operational initiative has been devolved to the team.

There are three sites of interest that has been allotted for investigation by your team and marked as such on the enclosed map. Going west to east

 

Lakeside

Orbital image scans suggest potential outline of building or other non natural formation under the surface. Local Adeptus Administratum records show no settlement in that area.  Therefore postulate remains of pre-imperial settlement.

 

Mountains

Geological feature in SW to N running valley indicative of orbital impact, unknown if caused by natural or artificial object.                                                         

Grassland

Bio-survey shows evidence of bio-crop plants that have feralised. Genetic comparisons to Adeptus Administratum approved crop imports are negative.  Therefore postulate remains of pre-imperial farming stock.

 

Note, alternative postulate for Lakeside and Grassland sites submitted by analytical savant: Adeptus Administratum records incomplete, local populous have at some point circumvented Government protocol.

 

Thought of The Day: All unsanctified data is suspect.

 

Map

Spoiler