#this law doesn't even exist anymore. you are all 10 years late. and so am i. but i don't care about being on time | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iamaweretoad · 11 months ago

Note

Did you maybe get a chance to develop an idea for your Rogue Trader? What are they like? And, perhaps most importantly, how do they get along with the members of their retinue? 😊

I am so glad you enjoy the game, hope you have a great day!! 💜

Thank you for enabling me! 💜

god this game is giving me hella brainworms, so apologies in advance for how long this got!

His name is Mago Vanth, though he goes exclusively by his surname and has for a while now. It's a bit awkward with his fancy new surname tacked onto it (all those v's), but so is he, so.... XD

Crime lord background. Lawful neutral. Loyal to his people (crew/gang/etc) and nothing else. Ruthless when necessary. Fast talking. Pragmatic (until he's not). He has a talent for people and synthesizing information/perspectives. Good at tactics, bad at combat (he's gonna give Abelard a heart attack one of these fights). Be gay do crimes.

He was born in a hive world slum. Orphaned at 9 after his mother got sucked into a chaos cult and tried to sacrifice him and his sibling. Started his life of crime young and by his late 20s he was running a successful gang. Unfortunately the leaders of the larger syndicate that his gang was part of ALSO got involved in some Chaos shit, and Vanth was arrested as part of the investigation/crackdown.

I went with Shadow of Torment from the 'Darkest Hour' section of character creation ("You were arrested and thoroughly interrogated using creative and violent methods."), so.... yeah. He claims he lost his eye in a fight, but in reality it was a result of the interrogation.

He (barely) survives and manages to escape, but by that point he is a complete wreck and everyone he knows/cares about is dead, arrested or wants *him* dead for betraying them. So he runs, as far towards the outer rim (or whatever the in-universe equivalent is) as the money in his bailout stash will get him and begins the process of trying to piece himself and his life back together.

8? 10? years later, he's clawed his way up to being the leader of a successful smuggling syndicate (not huge, but a respectable size) when he gets press-ganged into the Von Valencias dynasty.

He's spent his whole life living/working outside of (and often in conflict with) the establishment. And now he IS the establishment and it's killing him. More than that, though, it's the title that he's really struggling with. Heinrix has that line at the beginning of Act 2, something about if you land on Footfall incognito it will be your last chance to be treated like a person -- and like, he means it in a subterfuge/reconnaissance way, not a existential way, but it's still very much true in an existential way. Vanth isn't a person anymore, he's a title, and it's terrifyingly isolating and lonely and he has no idea how to navigate it.

The only thing that is keeping him from drowning completely is a) he is very good at people, and b) he has never known stability in his entire life and is a firm believer in "no plan survives contact with the enemy" so he is very adept at improvising/adapting on the spot. But the amount of focus and energy this requires isn't really sustainable, and it's only a matter of time before he burns himself out.

***

Re: companions -- I just got to Footfall, so I've only got their Act 1 introductions so far (and haven't met the later companions yet). But in terms of very early impressions:

Abelard: Space Dad. They butt heads a fair bit, but his experience and advice is invaluable, and he's the one person Vanth can sorta lean on for support (professionally if not emotionally -- yet). He also seems unafraid to tell Vanth bluntly to his face when he thinks he's being an idiot, which is an indispensable quality even if Vanth doesn't always agree with his position.

Idira: Sibling energy. Someone else who found a way to exist outside of the system. The only person he can have a normal (to him) conversation with. Basically his reaction to Idira was "oh thank fuck someone sane".

Argenta: nails-on-a-blackboard levels of uncomfortable. She swings wildly between compassion, contempt and fanaticism and he cannot get a bead on her. He respects her skill in combat, but he does not trust her at all, AND she picks on Idira, so she's on thin fucking ice.

Cassia: He is trying to remember that she's still a kid (technically an adult, I assume, but he's in his mid to late thirties, so to him she's a kid). And she's a kid who has been intensely isolated, indoctrinated and infantilized her entire life and who has not, until like a week ago EVER come in contact with any information that challenges her perception of reality/worldview. He is also trying to remember that when someone is actually willing to talk to her about that conflicting information, she seems willing to sit with the discomfort and objectively consider it, and in some cases change her view/behavior in response (which is more than can be said for some of the other party members). He is trying to remember that and not have a kneejerk reaction every time she opens her mouth about commoners, but goddamn it's a struggle. Not helped by the fact that even if he succeeds, she can still tell he's angry because she's an empath. He's working on it. He likes her, he's just so fucking tired.

Pasqal: TBD. He doesn't quite know what to make of him yet. (i feel like Pasqual had a much higher ratio of exposition to personal dialogue than the other companions in Act 1 -- which entirely fits the character, but doesn't give me a lot to work with XD)

Heinrix: IT'S COMPLICATED. They got off on the wrong foot for starters, walking in on him interrogating an enemy. Instant trauma flashbacks for Vanth, and then Heinrix immediately escalated the tension by threatening Idira. As first impressions go, could not have been worse. Luckily there was still a station full of cultists trying to kill them and combat is a hell of an icebreaker. He's still a walking trigger and the way he asks questions sets Vanth's teeth on edge, but things are more or less civil between them for now. Vanth values his pragmatism, and he's been kind to Cassia and he helped Evayne (and even Idira in that last combat). And every so often there is a hint of a person underneath all the dogma and red-tape officiousness, which makes Vanth curious despite himself.

#thank you again for the lovely ask!#i hope you are having a great day as well! <3

8 notes · View notes