Sooner or later you'll be meeting Nequimayana (the name is my approximation of "carnivore" in Nahuatl). I wrote up 20 answers for him as well, and here they are.
01)Where is your character from?
01)Where is your character from?
Nequimayana is an albino green lizardman originally hatched en route from Venus to Earth on an Etheric Transport, whose family came to Earth when his uncle Icuihatl became the ambassador to the United States of America prior to the Civil War (his father Tlamatini and mother Zacayo were also attached to the diplomatic mission; Nequimayana's egg hatched early during the transport before they could get to Earth). He has spent his early life on Earth and eventually traveled to other planets as an Etheric ship captain.
02) Where did they get their training or learn their skills?
Nequimayana joined the U.S. Army as a specialist in 1862, serving as a combat magician (Evoker) with a rifleman corps. The fourteen years of the Civil War (where he was wounded dozens of times, twice nearly fatally) improved his marksmanship and gave him a taste for vengeance against the CSA; he served briefly with William Tecumseh Sherman and considers his lack of participation in the burning of Atlanta to be a missed opportunity in his life. After the war he became a salvage diver for the US Navy and eventually called in every favor he had stored up over thirteen years of combat to be trained as a navigator, helmsman and pilot in the US Etheric Navy. He retired from service with the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Army (the lowest possible officers' rank) as well as that of Captain in the Etheric Navy.
03) What is / was their family background?
Nequimayana's parents have been dead for several years (and were given a burial at sea back on Venus); his uncle still serves as a diplomat and interpreter in the American consulate also on Venus. He has no children and has never married.
04) What is their view of magic use and magic users?
As a magic user, Nequimayana views learned arcane magic as the most important aspect of his personality and life (he's a wizard first, then a lizardman, then an American veteran of the Etheric Navy, then a veteran of the Army, and finally a Venusian by heritage if not by personal history).
05) What is their view of the six major powers occupying the continental United States (the USA, the CSA, the 500 Nations, Peachtree, La Republica de Tejas and Deseret?)
He is fascinated by the alchemical and technological wonders that Peachtree has developed, and views himself as a patriotic American-by-adoption (he was not the first lizardman to gain American citizenship, but he was among the first several hundred). Tejas is too sparse, dry and rural to keep his interest for a particularly long time, as is Deseret (which is a client state to the successfully treasonous nation of the CSA). He does like that Tejas was captured from the Confederacy and then formed its own nation; being something of a renegade among his own people he admires institutions that break away from other ones when they're embarrassing the CSA. He admires the 500 Nations' ability to work magic without the technological crutches of spellbooks and focus objects but much prefers town and city life to sleeping under the stars and wandering nomadically.
06) Have they been to another planet yet? Do they want to go some day?
After the Civil War, Nequimayana saved his salvage diving pay (including shares in recovered wrecks that had gold, silver and alchemically important metals) to purchase and refit a decomissioned USEN gunboat. It has been renamed the Gibbous Moon and he uses it as a freight hauler to deliver goods, mail, packages, diplomatic and military dispatches and books to Venus and Mars (and passengers from time to time, although he prefers to travel alone). Although he has traveled to the other planets (and has been to Mercury several times, disliking it intensely) as well as Ceres and other large asteroids, Nequimayana finds himself more comfortable and at ease traveling through the void rather than staying on a planet for longer than a couple of months.
07) Your character finds $500 on the ground (a windfall equal to a three months' wages for a working class laborer). There's no way to tell who it belongs to. What do they do with the money? Does this answer change if they find it by themselves or in the group?
If he finds it by himself, it's probably going to be spent keeping the Gibbous Moon in spaceworthy shape. If he finds it with a group, he'd divide it up equally among everyone (and spend his share on the Gibbous Moon).
08) What religion (if any) does your character follow, and how fervently?
Nequimayana has a small triptych icon of the Smith (in his guises of the Smith, the Alchemist and the Clockmaker) riveted to the bulkhead near the Etheric Propeller and one of the Crone on his instrument panel. Like all sailors, he's very superstitious about some things and keeps a model of the inner solar system in his cabin where he can monitor what the phases of the moons are on Mars and the sole moon on Earth.
09) What's one of their bad habits? How about a good habit?
Nequimayana is extremely private and solitary, disdaining the company of others for the most part. He retains a simmering hatred for the CSA and considers everyone living there who was old enough to partake in the Civil War an unpunished traitor. As for the good habit, he keeps the Gibbous Moon extraordinarily well-maintained, not entirely because it's the only thing keeping him alive during the several-weeks-long trips to other planets.
10) What does your character do with their leisure time?
Nequimayana enjoys cooking, reading and attending vaudeville performances in his free time, as well as Wild West shows, circuses, and other entertainment that's generally considered lowbrow. He refuses to attend ones that feature “blackface” comedy, stemming entirely from his distaste for the CSA (thankfully, that style of comedy is dying out in the USA because nobody likes the idea of Peachtree getting offended with them and witholding new miracles).
11) What would your character order at a restaurant? Does this answer change if someone else is paying for the meal?
If he's buying, beef (or chicken) stew and a half loaf of bread with coffee, lemonade (he got a taste for both beverages while serving in the Etheric Navy) and cake or pie for dessert. If someone else is buying, he tends to upgrade the stew to beefsteak or fried chicken. If he's at a diplomatic function he just has whatever is being served, and knows enough etiquette to not humiliate himself or his hosts (another remnant of his officer training as well as his family's diplomatic service). He's fond of sweet liqueurs or wine after dinner.
12) Does your character have any bias against the Skaven, the Red or Green Lizardmen, against Tripod Martians (or against humans, if they're a nonhuman character)? Does your character have any prejudices against other humans if they are a human?
Nequimayana has known humans extensively in his military service and is only prejudiced or biased against the Confederacy and Deseret; otherwise he likes humans perfectly well, though he has no close friendships with any of them. He's found the Skaven fascinating because they're a magically created race and has irritated and offended several of them by asking questions about their history. He finds the tripod Martians to be homebound to an extent he can't really understand but doesn't have a problem with that.
13) Where do they live when not adventuring? Is it just a rented room somewhere or an actual home?
Nequimayana tends to live on the Gibbous Moon when that's an option and will rent a hotel room when it isn't. One thing he does not miss from his Army days is sleeping out in the open during bad weather but he can still do it if he needs to.
14) How does your character tend to dress when out in the field having adventures? Are their "town clothes" different from this?
Nequimayana wears civilian clothes cut to resemble his old Etheric Navy service uniform without duplicating it, black trousers with a dark green stripe on the sides of the legs and a dark green tunic and cap.
15) How does your character pack for travel or for going out into the field for adventuring?
Spellbooks, his flintlock pistol (focus weapon), powder horn and ammunition, officers' sword (rapier), spare suit of clothes, field kit (he still has his old mess kit from the Etheric Navy), possibles bag containing miscellaneous items, bedroll, the inevitable fifty feet of rope, spyglass, burning glass, and usually a Dime Novel or two.
16) What is your character's education level? (It is presumed that all PCs will be literate in English without a reason for that in the back story.)
Nequimayana is an educated spellcaster who graduated from West Point's Arcane Studies program as well as a former officer in the US Army and US Etheric Navy. He reads Solar Geographic and several arcane and scientific journals to stay informed on developments but has not contributed any new research to any of them. He knows enough about Calculation Engines to use them but not to program anything new on them.
17) What is your character afraid of?
The alternative to boredom is disaster when traveling between planets. He's not particularly worried about mechanical failure, but pirate raids or Etheric monster attacks are something he quietly dreads.
18) Does your character owe a significant favor to anyone? Does anyone owe them a significant favor?
He used up all his earlier favors getting to a position where he could fly his own Etheric Transport, and doesn't currently owe anyone much of a favor past the occasional meal or deadhead flight. He has given cash contributions to veterans' hospitals and bills them at or slightly below cost to ship materials anywhere.
19) What does your character want to get out of adventuring? What to they expect to get out if it? What are they afraid could happen while out on adventures?
Nequimayana doesn't adventure any more, but when he did he was focused on buying the Gibbous Moon and turning it into a profitable solo business venture.
20) What, if anything, does your character consider to be a cause worth dying for? What would they see as a good death?
He viewed the saving of the Union as a cause worth fighting, killing, and dying for but did not die. He also did not succeed (and his knowledge of how the Native American populations were treated by the Americans has led him to view their secession and control of the Pacific Northwest and upper Northwest as a necessary evil; he reserves his ire almost entirely for the CSA / Deseret secessionists). When Nequimayana ponders his own death, he thinks that he will probably load up the Gibbous Moon with as much water and food as it can carry and fly out into the endless dark, past the asteroid belt and the other planets, and simply look at everything that he can in the void until his heart stops.
Bonus question #21: What advice would you give your character if you could?
You need to become part of the worlds again, not merely travel between them.
02) Where did they get their training or learn their skills?
Nequimayana joined the U.S. Army as a specialist in 1862, serving as a combat magician (Evoker) with a rifleman corps. The fourteen years of the Civil War (where he was wounded dozens of times, twice nearly fatally) improved his marksmanship and gave him a taste for vengeance against the CSA; he served briefly with William Tecumseh Sherman and considers his lack of participation in the burning of Atlanta to be a missed opportunity in his life. After the war he became a salvage diver for the US Navy and eventually called in every favor he had stored up over thirteen years of combat to be trained as a navigator, helmsman and pilot in the US Etheric Navy. He retired from service with the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Army (the lowest possible officers' rank) as well as that of Captain in the Etheric Navy.
03) What is / was their family background?
Nequimayana's parents have been dead for several years (and were given a burial at sea back on Venus); his uncle still serves as a diplomat and interpreter in the American consulate also on Venus. He has no children and has never married.
04) What is their view of magic use and magic users?
As a magic user, Nequimayana views learned arcane magic as the most important aspect of his personality and life (he's a wizard first, then a lizardman, then an American veteran of the Etheric Navy, then a veteran of the Army, and finally a Venusian by heritage if not by personal history).
05) What is their view of the six major powers occupying the continental United States (the USA, the CSA, the 500 Nations, Peachtree, La Republica de Tejas and Deseret?)
He is fascinated by the alchemical and technological wonders that Peachtree has developed, and views himself as a patriotic American-by-adoption (he was not the first lizardman to gain American citizenship, but he was among the first several hundred). Tejas is too sparse, dry and rural to keep his interest for a particularly long time, as is Deseret (which is a client state to the successfully treasonous nation of the CSA). He does like that Tejas was captured from the Confederacy and then formed its own nation; being something of a renegade among his own people he admires institutions that break away from other ones when they're embarrassing the CSA. He admires the 500 Nations' ability to work magic without the technological crutches of spellbooks and focus objects but much prefers town and city life to sleeping under the stars and wandering nomadically.
06) Have they been to another planet yet? Do they want to go some day?
After the Civil War, Nequimayana saved his salvage diving pay (including shares in recovered wrecks that had gold, silver and alchemically important metals) to purchase and refit a decomissioned USEN gunboat. It has been renamed the Gibbous Moon and he uses it as a freight hauler to deliver goods, mail, packages, diplomatic and military dispatches and books to Venus and Mars (and passengers from time to time, although he prefers to travel alone). Although he has traveled to the other planets (and has been to Mercury several times, disliking it intensely) as well as Ceres and other large asteroids, Nequimayana finds himself more comfortable and at ease traveling through the void rather than staying on a planet for longer than a couple of months.
07) Your character finds $500 on the ground (a windfall equal to a three months' wages for a working class laborer). There's no way to tell who it belongs to. What do they do with the money? Does this answer change if they find it by themselves or in the group?
If he finds it by himself, it's probably going to be spent keeping the Gibbous Moon in spaceworthy shape. If he finds it with a group, he'd divide it up equally among everyone (and spend his share on the Gibbous Moon).
08) What religion (if any) does your character follow, and how fervently?
Nequimayana has a small triptych icon of the Smith (in his guises of the Smith, the Alchemist and the Clockmaker) riveted to the bulkhead near the Etheric Propeller and one of the Crone on his instrument panel. Like all sailors, he's very superstitious about some things and keeps a model of the inner solar system in his cabin where he can monitor what the phases of the moons are on Mars and the sole moon on Earth.
09) What's one of their bad habits? How about a good habit?
Nequimayana is extremely private and solitary, disdaining the company of others for the most part. He retains a simmering hatred for the CSA and considers everyone living there who was old enough to partake in the Civil War an unpunished traitor. As for the good habit, he keeps the Gibbous Moon extraordinarily well-maintained, not entirely because it's the only thing keeping him alive during the several-weeks-long trips to other planets.
10) What does your character do with their leisure time?
Nequimayana enjoys cooking, reading and attending vaudeville performances in his free time, as well as Wild West shows, circuses, and other entertainment that's generally considered lowbrow. He refuses to attend ones that feature “blackface” comedy, stemming entirely from his distaste for the CSA (thankfully, that style of comedy is dying out in the USA because nobody likes the idea of Peachtree getting offended with them and witholding new miracles).
11) What would your character order at a restaurant? Does this answer change if someone else is paying for the meal?
If he's buying, beef (or chicken) stew and a half loaf of bread with coffee, lemonade (he got a taste for both beverages while serving in the Etheric Navy) and cake or pie for dessert. If someone else is buying, he tends to upgrade the stew to beefsteak or fried chicken. If he's at a diplomatic function he just has whatever is being served, and knows enough etiquette to not humiliate himself or his hosts (another remnant of his officer training as well as his family's diplomatic service). He's fond of sweet liqueurs or wine after dinner.
12) Does your character have any bias against the Skaven, the Red or Green Lizardmen, against Tripod Martians (or against humans, if they're a nonhuman character)? Does your character have any prejudices against other humans if they are a human?
Nequimayana has known humans extensively in his military service and is only prejudiced or biased against the Confederacy and Deseret; otherwise he likes humans perfectly well, though he has no close friendships with any of them. He's found the Skaven fascinating because they're a magically created race and has irritated and offended several of them by asking questions about their history. He finds the tripod Martians to be homebound to an extent he can't really understand but doesn't have a problem with that.
13) Where do they live when not adventuring? Is it just a rented room somewhere or an actual home?
Nequimayana tends to live on the Gibbous Moon when that's an option and will rent a hotel room when it isn't. One thing he does not miss from his Army days is sleeping out in the open during bad weather but he can still do it if he needs to.
14) How does your character tend to dress when out in the field having adventures? Are their "town clothes" different from this?
Nequimayana wears civilian clothes cut to resemble his old Etheric Navy service uniform without duplicating it, black trousers with a dark green stripe on the sides of the legs and a dark green tunic and cap.
15) How does your character pack for travel or for going out into the field for adventuring?
Spellbooks, his flintlock pistol (focus weapon), powder horn and ammunition, officers' sword (rapier), spare suit of clothes, field kit (he still has his old mess kit from the Etheric Navy), possibles bag containing miscellaneous items, bedroll, the inevitable fifty feet of rope, spyglass, burning glass, and usually a Dime Novel or two.
16) What is your character's education level? (It is presumed that all PCs will be literate in English without a reason for that in the back story.)
Nequimayana is an educated spellcaster who graduated from West Point's Arcane Studies program as well as a former officer in the US Army and US Etheric Navy. He reads Solar Geographic and several arcane and scientific journals to stay informed on developments but has not contributed any new research to any of them. He knows enough about Calculation Engines to use them but not to program anything new on them.
17) What is your character afraid of?
The alternative to boredom is disaster when traveling between planets. He's not particularly worried about mechanical failure, but pirate raids or Etheric monster attacks are something he quietly dreads.
18) Does your character owe a significant favor to anyone? Does anyone owe them a significant favor?
He used up all his earlier favors getting to a position where he could fly his own Etheric Transport, and doesn't currently owe anyone much of a favor past the occasional meal or deadhead flight. He has given cash contributions to veterans' hospitals and bills them at or slightly below cost to ship materials anywhere.
19) What does your character want to get out of adventuring? What to they expect to get out if it? What are they afraid could happen while out on adventures?
Nequimayana doesn't adventure any more, but when he did he was focused on buying the Gibbous Moon and turning it into a profitable solo business venture.
20) What, if anything, does your character consider to be a cause worth dying for? What would they see as a good death?
He viewed the saving of the Union as a cause worth fighting, killing, and dying for but did not die. He also did not succeed (and his knowledge of how the Native American populations were treated by the Americans has led him to view their secession and control of the Pacific Northwest and upper Northwest as a necessary evil; he reserves his ire almost entirely for the CSA / Deseret secessionists). When Nequimayana ponders his own death, he thinks that he will probably load up the Gibbous Moon with as much water and food as it can carry and fly out into the endless dark, past the asteroid belt and the other planets, and simply look at everything that he can in the void until his heart stops.
Bonus question #21: What advice would you give your character if you could?
You need to become part of the worlds again, not merely travel between them.
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