Scobie Redfern
Ex-Soldier / Dimension Wanderer
From Kenneth Bulmer's parallel-worlds novel "The Wizards of Senchuria"
A demobilized veteran and rootless opportunist, Scobie Redfern used to think of himself as a regular guy just trying to get along in a world full of traps for saps. Swept by accident into one of the cross-dimension smuggling operations of Perdita, the acquisitive and ruthless Contessa di Montevarchi, Scobie was imprisoned on another world and set to work slaving in one of the Contessa's gem mines. When a lucky disturbance offered the slave miners a chance, they made good their escape by freeing a pair of slave Porteurs and fleeing across a string of dangerous parallel worlds till they found an uncertain haven with the technological wizards of Senchuria.
Senchuria was an ancient city-state that had mastered high attainment in genetics, medicine, cyborganic revival. A specialty was the capture, storage, and projection of emotions, which they used to protect the city by turning foes into pacifists, cowards, or lunatics. The Wizards had manipulated their party of refugees into pairing up romantically to harvest their emotions of love and joy, pairing Scobie with Val. Scobie learned this, was appalled, and broke out with Val in tow, earning his keep with the fear and anger the Wizards harvested as he ran the Wizards' gauntlet of giant insects and ghoul-like cyborganic guards, and earning respect for his effective tactics.
When Senchuria was attacked by the Infalgon, an emotionless host of feline cyborgs, Scobie was picked, as the only soldier at hand, to lead a squad to obtain real weapons, the ones Senchuria had abandoned long ago.
As a reward for saving Senchuria, the Wizards gifted Val and Scobie with long life and enhanced physical and psychic vitality. Now they wander the worlds together, helping others to escape the Contessa as they can, and wondering if they can find a world that will be theirs together.
For the sake of LoGaS, presume that Scobie and Val's arm of the Grand Stair is a provincial backwater which has had little recent contact with other Lords or primal threats, and is traveled by creatures of its own local worlds, and where technology is strong and the other Powers are weak.
Attributes
25 PSY
10 STR
15 END
20 WAR
70 Attributes
10 Cantrips: Clarity, Focus, Stun, Invigorate(*), Fear
Scobie found that the enhanced mental and psychic capacity afforded by the Wizards' remaking of his mind and body allowed him to do some unusual tricks by directing his concentration. The meditation traditions of Val's homeworld helped Scobie organize these into a set of useful tools. These abilities are limited to his own body or to emotional/psychic effects on others, and leave psychic traces but do not count as "magic" as such. "Fear" attacks the target's courage directly and may cause them to hesitate, break off an attack, cower, hide, or flee; it's most useful against a target of lower Psyche or who is already demoralized.
(*) Scobie has only been able to use Invigorate on Val, with whom he shares a psychic bond. In fact, he's a little uneasy about the whole idea of mind to mind contact with anyone else.
17 Val, Porteur of Montrado
Val is Scobie's sweetheart, a fellow escapee from the Contessa. Her ability to find and open Doors made her a valuable slave, but once freed of her shackles, was quick to help her comrades flee into worlds free of the Contessa's influence. Scobie loves Val for her beauty, her spirit, and her kindness and good humor, and is only slowly discovering the depth of her character. As Scobie cannot open Doors on his own, he must rely on Val or another Porteur to let him walk the worlds.
Arguably Val should be the character and Scobie the sidekick, but the book is written from his point of view, and all the initiative and choices in the source work appear to come from him.
- 2 Combat Reflexes (knows how to handle herself)
- 2 Double Vitality (Superior Strength)
- 2 Paragon Stamina
- 4 Extraordinary Psychic Sense
- 2 Paragon Psyche (Psychic Neutral at will, but not usually)
- 4 Search through Worlds
- 1 Cantrip (non-"magic"): Focus (Psyche boost)
1 Domain: Montrado
Montrado is Val's home. She hails from an idyllic tropical coast, from a well-connected family in a naturist culture who have met Scobie and treat their daughter's sweetheart with amused tolerance, particularly for his affectation of clothes that have no strictly practical function. Scobie and Val have never settled here for good, but they spend time here occasionally as a welcome respite from their travels. Montrado has some Door commerce with other worlds, and Porteurs are known among them; Val is unusual and strongly gifted, but not unique.
2 Good Stuff