Roleplaying

The game of Startroid is, first and foremost, a roleplaying game, which means that it’s all about taking on the role of a character in the game. Some people take to this playacting naturally and easily; others find it more of a challenge. This section is here to help you out, whether you’re comfortable and familiar with roleplaying or you’re new to the concept. Your character is more than a combination of race, class, and feats. He or she is also one of the protagonists in a living, evolving storyline. Like the hero of any scifi novel or film, he or she has ambitions and fears, likes and dislikes, motivations and mannerisms, moments of glory and of failure. The best characters blend the ongoing story of their adventuring careers with memorable characteristics or traits.

Kirlia the 4th-level chozo soldier is a perfectly playable character even without any embellishment, but Kirlia the Mafficker's personality—ostentatious, genuine, and wholesome—suggests a particular approach to negotiating with NPCs or discussing issues with other characters. Everyone's experience becomes richer with a good set of characters to play off of.

Personal Title

The days of gods and sorcery are long past, and the nature of moral turpitude in the massive quagmire of issues that confront society day to day leave little room for absolutes like alignment.

Instead of alignment, you may adopt or earn epithets called titles that add a little spice to your character. You're free to choose one title when creating a character, though you may be branded with others by your deeds at a later time.

Here are some suggestions for titles:

acrimonious	foul	klaxon	pain	stunner
adroit	free	laughable	panic	tower
anonymous	fundament	lord	parsimonious	tragic
baleful	garrulous	lost	pestilence	trusted
bawdy	goad	loud	petulant	tumbler
bellicose	great	lucifugent	powermonger	ubiquitous
brawler	halfwitted	luminous	putrid	unctuous
candid	haughty	lurid	questionable	underestimated
carouser	highborn	mafficker	quick	underhanded
coarse	humorous	meat house	quietus	vehement
deadly	icy	menacing	real	verbose
demure	illuminator	mendacious	risible	vile
devastator	insidious	mollifying	roustabout	violent
dire	invader	mutable	rude	vivacious
dour	irritating	newbie	runner	wanderer
elite	jack	night	runcible	ward
enormous	janky	nihil	salubrious	wary
eradicator	jovial	nimble	sanctifier	whale
erudite	joyous	observer	sellsword	woebegone
ferocious	kicker	oddity	stern	young
fierce	killer	omniscient	stony	yowler
flag	kiss	orb	stout	zero

You may contrive or discover more of these as you participate in adventurers.

Notable Factions

Though society has retreated and shifted much over the centuries in space, organizations, religions, identities, and creeds live on. Any spacefaring adventurer has heard of, if not confronted and interacted with, many of the following factions.

The Brotherhood of Adun

A splinter group, perhaps the remnants of the last Adjudication of the Prelate Artanis. They still remember the scouring of Aiur and the valor of their lost protoss heroes. Though not strictly a protoss-exclusive group, their aim is to re-establish the homeworld of Aiur and support distant protoss brothers and sisters across the galaxy in their own works. Their leader is one of the immortals, a protoss head and brain suspended in a cybernetic shell, named Kyrador after an old moon holding of the protoss Adjudication.

The Kel-Morian Combine

One of the first establishments of the terran generation ships upon reaching the mineral-rich worlds of the Koprulu sector of space, this mercantile and mining group is responsible for the infrastructure of many worlds, and bears a well-known label seen on orbital platforms and mining equipment alike.

Space Pirates

Wandering raiders, outlaws who hide in the far reaches, thieves and brigands. Some speculate there is once again a central organizer of Space Pirates across the galaxy, but little evidence exists to support this claim. The modern pirate band has a flotilla of several ships, a dozen at the most, and a staff of perhaps 100 warriors and operators. Bands that become any larger than this tend to die off to infighting or splinter.

The United Earth Directorate

A surviving faction of Earth inhabitants, and once-superpower in the Koprulu sector during the Brood Wars. The UED now specializes in medical technology and treatment, although technically also controls government operations on several worlds and platforms. Not entirely terran staffed, about half of the current membership hails from Earth itself, and half split another way are terrans.

The Clan of Septoth

A warrior-fellowship turned planet-spanning-clan centered around a founding chozo named Septoth, whose influence at the conflict of Umoja saved billions of lives. Modernly the clan acts as a minimal security force on many worlds, eschewing the more onerous activities of governance. Clan rangers are vaunted independants capable, some say, of quelling riots and turning back invasions single handedly.

Galactic Federal Holdings

The remainder of a once sector-spanning governance the rival of any the modern age has seen, following a cascade of disasters and exposure of secret illicit research, the Galactic Federation remade itself as Galactic Federal Holdings, a mere catalog, storage group, and record keeper of former GalFed possessions and findings. Responsible for a single planet (Bryyo) and a few surrounding orbital platforms.

Void Walkers

Shakurans who advanced to the highest echelons of knowledge of the void are known as Void Walkers. They have developed a stoic system of discipline for their members, whose aims having acquired this knowledge, are unclear. The official holders of Shakuras, though seemingly nothing happens on the surface of that planet or below it. Few comprehend the purpose they serve, and none live who have come into conflict with them unwittingly.

Society of Luminance

Some say a secret society of light-worshippers operates in the Koprulu and Jroel sectors of space. Rational minds observe such superstitious nonsense as nothing more than a graffiti logo and rumor.

Cosmoseismologists

Frontrunners in the study of the fabric of the universe and the shifting tectonic plates of time, the cosmoseismologists claim mastery over temporal technology, which they nonetheless employ in practical creations bearing their trademark. Allegedly the guardians of the timeline, they have been known to gather force around events that would be nothing more than cosmological ballet to others: supernovas, nebula formations, collisions of heavenly bodies. They played a crucial role in the Conflict of Umoja, indeed causing it (though they claim otherwise) by activating a weapon simply called "The Device," which annihilated two worlds: the launching point of Tarsonis, and the target Umoja.

Scala Naturae

A secretive collective of research scientists and natural philosophers under the vision of their Director-for-life: a chozo biologist named Puipa. Keenly interested in the cataloging and understanding of all life, Scala Naturae claim holdings mostly scattershot within subterranean bunkers and aboard orbital platforms. Mostly seen as effete, SN scientists never engage in open conflict and rarely hire out security forces, leading many to wonder how they survive in the rough and the wild. In the words of their raven-feathered director: "Life finds a way."

Personality

Should you not know where to begin in developing a persona for your character, use the following questions as a guide and build from there. A rich, three-dimensional character the envy of any novel is not strictly necessary for you to play and enjoy the game, but it wouldn't hurt! If you find that, while playing, you aren't being given many opportunities to express your character's personality, talk to your DM. You should be able to come up with ample opportunities, no matter who you are or how you would respond to the following questions

Failing all that, you can use the following adjectives as a quickfire character or touchstone for resolving characteristic scenarios. The questions come under the headings of social interactions, decision points, and dire straits.

Social Interactions

You will often be tasked with interacting with other sapient beings using something other than force. When that time comes, how will you behave?

How do others perceive you in social interactions? Cheerful, Charming, Talkative, Witty, Reserved, Relaxed How optimistic are you? Enthusiastic, Grim, Hopeful, Confident, Fatalistic, Brooding How trusting are you? Suspicious, Nervous, Skeptical, Misanthropic, Keen, Ambivalent

Decision Points

You will face many decision points on your adventure, whether to stab your ally or your enemy, how much to request when blackmailing someone, which is the best route to get away from your pursuers? How you decide at these junctures is a matter of your character's makeup.

How assertive are you at a decision point? Humble, Timid, Adaptable, Easygoing, Commanding, Impatient
How conscientious are you about following rules? Unscrupulous, Consistent, Pragmatic, Flexible, Dutiful, Wild
How empathetic are you? Wicked, Insular, Stern, Hard-hearted, Oblivious, Pensive

Dire Straits

Finally, the hard choices. Things will often not break your way and your task becomes not selecting a good outcome, but choosing the best among bad ones. How you evaluate these outcomes speaks to your character.

How courageous are you in dire straits? Brave, Cautious, Competitive, Reckless, Steady, Fierce How do you feel when faced by setbacks? Stoic, Vengeful, Driven, Bold, Dispassionate, Impassioned How are your nerves? Calm, Impulsive, Skittish, Patient, Restless, Unshakable

Mannerisms

It really works to sell your character if you use mannerisms, in particular speech patterns, to set up a baseline for understanding. You'll know you've done it when you and your friends can play off each other's catchphrases and tease one another about them. You can use as your inspiration the various callouts of Starcraft units, and the data logs of Metroid Prime games.

Appearance

Each race description in Chapter 3 will give you an idea of the range of physical characteristics that you may freely select when deciding on your character's appearance. You may adopt a distinguishing feature or posture that lines up with your character's attitude or past.

Background

Though you needn't create an elaborate background, it would be good to have simple answers to the following questions.

• Why did you decide to be an adventurer?
• Where were you trained? Was it formal or informal?
• Do any of your personal items have special significance?
• What’s the worst event of your life?
• What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?
• Do you stay in contact with your family or brood vat? What do your non-combatant associates think of you and your chosen career?
• Do you even associate with non-combatants?