The Broken Hourglass: These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

Thought I'd post a couple more profiles from The Broken Hourglass neighborhood.

Mind once took care of the less-legal side of things in the Industrial District. He kept the riffraff in line, made sure no one was hurt (too much), and made a tidy profit all at the same time.

Then he vanished.

Now he's back, and he wants control again. Will you help him? Right now, the entire city is in chaos. Someone who can keep things in order might be just what the city needs, even if he takes a bit off the top for his own purposes. Of course, there are other candidates for the job, but none of them, as Mind will point out, have his experience.

The Mnemoi Like their compatriots in the Enclave, the Mnemoi are skilled at manipulating memories. Unlike them, they are willing to market their skills. For a reasonable fee, they will give you the skills and memories of a mountain climber or a researcher, without you having to take the time or effort to learn these things on your own. Pretty useful in the current crisis, wouldn't you say?

Better yet, you might be able to sell some of your own memories, get the sanguil you need to buy that lovely suit of armor Nekos has been asking for.

It's quite safe.

Really.

The Broken Hourglass: These are the people in your neighborhood

I thought this time I'd give you a couple of character sketches for today's entry. This may or may not become a regular practice.  Characters featured in the "neighborhood" posts are non-joinables of varying degrees of importance.  So, for today, here are two--one from inside the law, one from out.

When the world went mad on Wasteland Day, Zeriya kept her head. She also kept her people together, working to make sure they and their families had food and felt as safe as anyone could in the city. With their loyalty ensured, she was able to move in on the nearby, smaller gangs, taking them over one by one, parlaying a minor counterfeiting gang into a major power. Now she is the head of the largest gang in Mal Nassrin, the first Fey to reach such prominence.

She has two goals: To keep her new-found power and to be remembered.

You may need her help some day, so don't call her crazy.

And at the other end of the spectrum, there is:

Leonika had just recently been transferred to Mal Nassrin. Officially, it was a promotion.  Unofficially?  No one wants to go to Mal Nassrin. It's a dead end, a place where nothing ever happens, and the guard knows this. Leonika had just started working on the lax discipline she found at her new assignment when the Umbrella went up. Now, she has her hands full.

Morale is at an all-time low. The city council is not communicating. Half her troops are outside the of the barrier, and the other half have deserted or died in the chaos. She doesn't have much patience with interruptions, so choose your words with care.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part Three)

And the third part of the three-part overview of the joinable-NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, this time looking at Tuhan, Ruvanet, and Sanelon.  Again, a quick search over at  the the Planewalker Games main site will turn up more for some. All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

And so, on to part three:

Ruvanet  Angennosis an ex-soldier with a run of bad luck. He joined the army as soon as he could, only to find himself mustered out a few years later when he was injured too severely for the army healers to fix. Now, with one withered arm, he works as a general-purpose mage in Mal Nassrin's suburbs. He's also the neighborhood peace-maker, helping smooth over the quarrels too small to take to the judicial system.

Sanelon Batsakis is a healer accessible to even the poorest of the poor--provided they are willing to pay his price, usually in the form of some one-time service. He is an expert at knowing just how far people can be pushed, and was doing quite well in Mal Nassrin's criminal world up to the time things fell apart. Now, he's lost most of his power base and must fight to get it back.

Like Carind, he loves Mal Nassrin, and he is furious that someone has come in and damaged his city.

When most people say they will try anything, they mean things like sushi or sky-diving. Tuhan really means he will try anything, anything at all. An Illuminated who has chosen to reject stabilization, he is first seen allied with the PC's enemies. Asked about this, he is unapologetic, pointing out that that was then, and this is now, and isn't it time to try doing something heroic?

And that concludes this writer's look at the nine joinable NPCs. And, no, there is no party limit.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part Two)

And the second of the three-part overview of the joinable-NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, this time at Makarios, Nekos, and Redethe.. Again, a quick search over at  the the Planewalker Games main site will turn up more for some. All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

And so, on to part two:

Makarios is fey. Brought up on the rougher side of the city, he's enjoyed life as a low-level troublemaker, not planning for tomorrow--there is little point, after all, if you're fey. The Mal Nassrin troubles make him realize that there may be more to life than hassling the authorities, and for once, he's willing to work at something other than annoying the authorities (Though Carind is still a fair target).

Nekos has been fighting in the Arena since his early teens. His tenure has seen the rise of the star system. When the PC meets him, he is staging extra fights at the Arena, encouraging people to stay calm and avoid rioting. As far as he's concerned, that is the best way he can serve the city.

Nekos is warm and outgoing, always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. Whether he always chooses wisely is another matter entirely.

Redethe Hektor came to the city to investigate possible economic contributions to the Empire as a whole. As she is only too happy to tell her audience, she's reached her position due solely to her own talent, coming from an unknown family and impressing her superiors enough that, ultimately, the Empress created the post of Imperial Economist for her.

In the course of this rise, she's done a bit of everything: She started as a soldier, managed a mine, took over the oversight of the Eastern Fleet, battled pirates, and balanced ledgers. It's anyone's guess whether or not she would be working to save the city if she were not trapped there too, but she was, and she is.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part One)

I thought I'd give a really quick overview of the joinable NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, starting with Carind, Ioanna, and Halima. Several of the characters have larger introductions over on the Planewalker Games main site--a look under "characters" or a search by name should dig them up.

All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

Those of you who get this via reader may want to come look at the main site: This post is more formatted than most so that NPC portrait and character sketch are side-by-side, and feed tends to play havoc with formatting. And so, on to part one:

Carind Velanati has been in charge of keeping track Mal Nassrin's busy criminal element. She loves the city and takes her job extremely seriously. Two things frustrate her: She failed to see any warning signs leading up to Mal Nassrin's current predicament, and she has never yet managed to prove Sanelon guilty of anything.

Halima Phaenon left Mal Nassrin years ago to train as an Adept at the Island of Argoniss. Now enjoying the traditional break between schooling and return to the Isle, she finds herself unfamiliar with her home city. She was away from her family when the disaster struck and is eager to find whoever is behind it and make him pay.
Though she is well-trained in the use of magic, she is not experienced using it in real world situations.

Ioanna works as a spy ("Or 'secret agent,' if you prefer something classier."). She came to the city to see what was going on and stayed to help sort things out. The PC is not her first choice of solution, but seems the best option under the circumstances

If she's asked about her past, Ioanna will answer readily, though a careful listener will soon notice that not all of her stories match. Asked about this, she will laugh and ask what you expect.