You hail from the city-state of Khutal, a walled metropolis in the wasteland out beyond the Beyond. You have lived your entire life under siege, but fear and paranoia are not the Khutali way. Your best armor is a smile, and your preferred method of killing foes is with kindness. As one of the few trusted to leave the city you are an experienced traveler. You might be eager to return home, or you might be glad to be away from the god-king’s seemingly nonsensical edicts. Maybe you don’t plan on ever going back… or maybe you plan to stay away just long enough to ensure that the person sacrificed to create the god-king’s successor isn’t you.
You gain the following benefits:
- Matchmaker:
- You have a companion in the form of a biomechanical creature (usually resembling a bird, bat, or insect) that accompanies you at all times. Back home in Khutal this creature would help you find a genetically and psychologically compatible mate. Away from home it watches your back to insure that you get home to find a mate. You have an asset on any task to detect traps, ambushes, environmental hazards, or hidden watchers.
- Well-traveled:
- You reduce the difficulty one step for navigation and survival tasks.
- Skill:
- You work in the caravan as a buyer, scout, or guard. You are trained in one of the following skills: appraisal, negotiation, perception, stealth, or one type of weapon.
- Additional Equipment:
- You have a pack animal or a cart to carry your goods. A cart can be motorized or you can have an animal to pull it.
- Inability:
- Your ways are strange to people from outside your city, and the biomechanical creature that follows you around doesn’t help. You increase the difficulty one step for social interaction tasks to convince non-Khutali of your good intentions or to gain their trust.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
- You’ve been separated from your caravan – or worse, you’re the sole survivor from it – but the other PCs have promised to help you get home. They or you (decide which) just want to have a few adventures first.
- You ditched your caravan in hope of getting away from Khutal for good. Linking up with the other characters is your best chance of not getting dragged home or ending up facedown on the side of the road.
- Choose one of the other PCs; you think they would be a great asset to Khutal. You have decided to stay with the group long enough to convince this person to return with you… or maybe to take your place.
- Choose one of the other PCs; you think they’re a spy trying to pry Khutali secrets from you. You’ve decided to stick around and keep an eye on this person and hopefully find out who they work for.