Tumble. (MT)

Tumble

• IC Thread

• OOC Thread

Setting

Tumble is set in the Third Imperium of the Mongoose Traveller series. The game will be heavily involved with the Darrian Confederation, a high-tech ally of the Imperium on the edge of the Spinward Marches.

Characters

An unusual collection of people with a broad skill set-and each with a tie to the Darrians.

Wuiihloakhear or WU (the spelling is deliberate). A great, hulking Aslan.

Mazun "Lucky" Lamond. A almost equally hulking Human, with many years of Scout and Merchant experience.

Doctor Marcellus Pierce. An academic doctor and scientist, covered in tattoos and scars.

Phineas Erban. An explorer and vastly, if not deeply, skilled. Older than he seems--He seems in his early 30's.

The Ship

Grrr

Character Generation

Will be standard Traveller, with the GM reserving the right to roll initial stats. You get three sets rolled, choose a set. If your luck sucks, you get 10,9,8,7,6,5 (in any order) as a default (+3 over average).

All careers from the core book and supplements are available.

Characters are assumed to have previous connections - I'd like to emphasise this by getting a feel for what people want to play and kind of map out possible connections between PCs before rolling character terms.

The Imperial Academy of Science and Medicine

The Mission

A 'Grand Survey' - Slang for an exploration mission that will involve contact with different sentient and probably space going cultures. This means allowing for possible hostile contact both in space and on the ground, while also having a predominantly diplomatic and scientific bent.

The Secret

Unknown, but something is going on. For starters, the Darrians offer to buy the mortgage of your ship(s) and intend to outfit them for the survey - when they have a fleet of TL-15-16 ships? For seconds - none of you are from the Confederation, although each of you has had dealings with them before. You'll probably learn more once you sign the book they call a contract.

A Timeline.

Earlier:

• Alexandretta Hawthorne survives a massive overdose of Tree Squid extract (noted for it's anagathic qualities) at age 8.

1073:Eight terms ago

• Wu makes a friend during his rite of passage.
• Alex bounces from medical facility to medical facility. Best hypothesis is that she is aging at one-eighth the normal rate.
• Lucky Lamond (born on Karin) lands a job with BorderLines,a subsectors-wide merchant line specialising in border and cross border merchant trading. He has an old friend from Support who is now Division Head.

1077: Seven Terms ago.

• Wu [Star Marine Officer] spends a lot of time on Navy vessels.
• Alex trades her local notoriety for a job on a free trader [The Scant Regarde]. She becomes a smuggler within a year.
• Phineas Erban, a knights son, joins the explorers. He finds an ancient artefact.

Lucky makes a new contact and meets Wu in a barfight.

1081: Six Terms ago.

• Wu is part of a morally gray [to him] black ops mission that failed, leaving him with the sole survivor [his CO] as an enemy. He was awarded the MCUF for his actions and promoted for outstanding heroism.
• Alex backs a book deal with three years savings -and the money disappears along with the publishers. She spends six months tracking them and learns a lot about shady business dealings. The crew is happy with her new skills.
• A young Pierce joins the Naval Academy and, taking advantage of youth, parties as much as he studies.
• Phineas was exploring ruins in Foreven, where he found a locally holy artefact.
• Count Mirriam becomes a scholar and gains a contact. (PC could fit in here)
• Lucky’s ship is shot up and boarded by corsairs, the Flying Circus out of Theev. They killed everyone he knew in an amusing number of ways before leaving him for dead in a stripped ship.

1085: Five terms ago.

• Wu Meets disaster hunting pirate bands, as they are being tipped off. He gains an enemy [whom he still hunts] from the Flying Circus.
• Alex Gained a contact - a pirate broker who moved goods for raiders. She moved deeper into his circles over time. The crew of the Scant Regard view this with alarm and eventually kick her off the ship.
• Officer Pierce is assigned to the legal offices of the navy, helping with court martial services.
• Phineas goes to Bowman. He discovers Darrian remains.
• Count Mirriam is involved in an accident, gains a rival and leaves the scholars.
• Lucky Joins the scouts, in the exploration arm. He located a sleeper satellite deep inside Foreven Sector, determining it to be of Darrian make. Unfortunately, it self destructed. He was promoted for providing the intelligence, though.

1089: Four terms ago.

• Wu [Ground assault marine] forms a romantic relationship. Khtao is the name of Wu's Tech Officer and lover. [former Marine]
• Alex is dragged back into the underworld when her old contact sets her up with a job.
• Dr Pierce gains fame in the medical community for managing to refine some regular procedures.
• Phineas finds himself stranded on a primitive Droyne world in the Foreven sector
• Lucky is sent on a long-term mission he doesn’t understand , involving interviews with personnel and monitoring cultural shifts on over a dozen worlds outside the Imperium, coreward and spinward of the Five Sisters subsector.
• Count Mirriam creates a rival on a diplomatic mission to the Sword Worlds.

1093: Three terms ago.

• Wu [envoy/spy] does contract work for the Darrians
• Alex joins FERA as a tech once the Darrians have checked her background. On one of her missions, she discovers the function of an ancient device thought to be decorative. She is promoted and transferred to the research arm.
• Dr Pierce volunteers for a medical trial. He is mustered out after the trials went wrong. The navy gave him a courtesy Line transfer and promotion before letting him go
• Phineas' rescue ship was a scout ship. He found himself dragooned into special operations
• Lucky is on the fringe of known space in Foreven when his ship is attacked by a destroyer of the Avalar Consulate. He gains the nickname “Lucky”.
• Count Mirriam Gain Persuade, a rival, an ally.

1097: Two terms ago.

• Wu was posted to the Confederation after he called in a few favours. His exemplary service for the Darrians has earns him a special commendation. He joins the Special Arm.
• Dr Pierce joins the Imperial Acadeny of Science and Medicine as a Fellow (associate professor).
• Phineas' is forced to change his identity and face for his undercover missions into the wilds. He uncovers a smuggling ring with elements in the Imperial Navy.
• Lucky spends two years on an alien world in a long term survey. He gains a reasonable knowledge of the planet, but now can’t remember its name or location. This disturbs his dreams.
• Alex does well in her new career, but old enemies surface and her scout ship s bounced out in wilds space by a corsair from the Flying Circus. Seems that reliable tip from your old pirate broker friend was a set up…
• Count Mirriam becomes part of a conspiracy.

1101: 1 Term ago.

• Wu was sent on a black ops mission to recover a pre-Maghiz artefact from a Sword World military base on Sacnoth
• Dr Pierce Sets off into Foreven sector as part of an ISU (Imperial Science Union) research mission in 1102, to study the unaccountable rise in psychoses and hallucinations amongst the Spinward worlds of the Five Sisters subsector.
• Phineas Erban obtains a new identity and face and runs, hitchhiking on whatever ship is nearest. While on the lam he meets a wandering droyne whom he calls Torgo, and takes him under his wing. He also becomes friends with the tramp freighter (smuggler) Captain Los Anoh, whom he traveled with in that last year of his escape. For it did come to an end and he was able to reclaim his name and assets, though he kept the new face.
• Lucky’s dreams get worse, and other people from the mission are having similar problems. He makes the connection with his old interview mission and realises they all have the same symptoms. He is mustered out, having acquired "psychological damage"( and maybe telling the evaluating officer what he REALLY thought of that last mission didn’t help).
• Alex is promoted to a Senior Leaders position and is well known all across the service. This draws rivalry and she is betrayed. Another officer reveals her carefully managed alcohol addiction and she is honourably discharged. Antonin Seercra was her betrayer, now an O5 mission commander.
• Count Mirriam Assassination. End 8+: 3, injury, 5: Reduce any phyiscal characteristic by 1

1105: A few months ago In 1105, Dr Pierce found himself, fully rational but bereft of memory of the last 31/2 years, in an emergency life raft just outside of Imperial space . He is unaccountably grief stricken in his dreams and feels terrible pangs of loss. Sometimes places, people and faces appear. Phineas has reclaimed his name and position now it is safe to do so. Count Mirriam is recovering from his assassination attempt. The three (re?)connect while in recovery on Iderati. Stories are shared.

From there comes an improbable idea to use their Imperial ship shares to mortgage an old aslan science ship