Chapter XGM Only
NPCs and Power Players
Every important NPC has a public face, a private motive, a secret, a fear, and a move they make when cornered.
Use these NPCs as fixed characters or templates. Change names, flags, and loyalties as needed, but keep each person's pressure intact.
Admiral Constanza Miravel
Valdegracian Naval Commander, Canula Station- Public face
- Calm, formal, correct. Represents crown authority without antagonizing the company factor or the Church mission.
- Private motive
- She wants the crisis contained before the home legislature hears about it. Her pension depends on a clean service record.
- Secret
- She received the suppressed incident report two days before the characters arrived and has not forwarded it to the admiralty.
- Fear
- That the chamber will classify as a miracle site and remove the naval station from crown jurisdiction.
- Cornered move
- Declare a security emergency, lock the harbor, and send for the heavy frigate. Buys time; creates a siege.
Sola Venna
Estate Factor, San Telmo Plantation- Public face
- Efficient, loyal to the company, professionally correct with all parties.
- Private motive
- She wants off the island. She has wanted off the island for three years. The estate assignment was supposed to be six months.
- Secret
- She has been filing falsified yield reports for eighteen months on instructions from a senior company officer she has never met in person.
- Fear
- That the falsified reports will surface and she will be blamed for the entire operation.
- Cornered move
- Hand the characters the real records in exchange for guaranteed passage on the next ship out.
Emilio Resa
Ship's Mechanic; Chamber Contact- Public face
- A contract worker, unremarkable, good with his hands. Not educated.
- Private motive
- He does not want to leave the chamber, not because he cannot; because he thinks if he leaves before someone understands the harmonic, no one will, and the chamber will answer in a way he has felt but cannot name.
- Secret
- He has understood approximately forty percent of what the chamber has shown him. He is telling the characters about thirty percent of that. The rest he cannot find words for yet.
- Fear
- That the people who built the chamber knew what was coming and left anyway.
- Cornered move
- Touch the floor and ask the chamber a question. The chamber answers. The answer will be inconvenient for everyone present.
Father Isidro Calves
Senior Priest, Canula Mission; Church Intelligence- Public face
- A tired, kind, overworked mission priest. He has been on Canula Prime for eleven years.
- Private motive
- He filed the miracle inquiry because the rules required it. He did not expect the Inquisitor inquiry to come back as fast as it did. He is now managing something larger than he intended.
- Secret
- He is a Church intelligence asset. He passes information through the harbor chapel. He does not know the recipient is Duchy of Heller.
- Fear
- That he has accidentally triggered a process that will get local people killed.
- Cornered move
- Invoke Church sanctuary for any civilian in the immediate area, including characters. Buys time; creates a legal standoff.
Lena Korst
Duchy of Heller Research Agent; Forged Credentials- Public face
- A minor Albion academic on a natural history survey. Believable, dull, professionally forgettable.
- Private motive
- She is here for the chamber data and has orders to return with it. She has been here long enough to want something else: to understand it.
- Secret
- She speaks the pre-colonial language. She has translated approximately two-thirds of the chamber label. She has not told Duchy of Heller how much she has translated.
- Fear
- That her cover will collapse before she gets the last third.
- Cornered move
- Offer the characters a trade: her translation, plus passage on the black sloop, in exchange for thirty minutes alone in the chamber with Resa.
Improvising NPC speech
Every NPC should answer a question with a sentence that serves their private motive, not the truth. If Admiral Miravel is asked whether the naval station knew about the basement, she says: "The station's mandate is harbor security and convoy escort. Questions about estate management belong to the company factor." That is technically true. It is designed to redirect. It tells the characters exactly where not to look.
NPC voice test
Before an NPC speaks, ask: what does this person want right now, and what would they never say out loud? Let the answer to the second question shape the silence in their dialogue.