Background: 20 Answers (Tom)

With Tom's permission, I'm posting the 20 answers he wrote to the 20 questions that I wrote, as well as his background for his character.

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Backstory

Colin Dust never knew his parents, and was raised in the Boston Asylum for Orphans. He remembers very little about the day-to-day life, but was treated well by the staff, who tried hard but had very few resources. It was absolutely not a stereotypical “origin story” orphanage, there was no abuse, people were kind and well-meaning and competent, but they didn’t pay much attention to each individual child. Colin doesn’t have a dark past, or any anger about being an orphan, and has no interest in avenging anyone.

Colin was constantly reading when he was young, mostly because that was one of the only things to do in the orphanage. He found he was especially interested in nature, and by the age of 8 or 9 had read every book about nature available at the orphanage. After he spent several months pestering them, the orphanage staff let Colin start walking to the local branch library, where he spent hours reading and re-reading everything he could about nature.

The instant that began Colin’s career as a spacefaring adventurer was a small one. One day when he was 13, he noticed a flyer on the library’s message board. It advertised a special exhibition at the Natural History Museum including some of the amazing creatures recently found on Mars and Venus. Colin immediately grabbed the flyer and rushed home to begin making a case to be allowed to go to the exhibition. To this day, Colin keeps that flyer (now a bit burnt, held together mostly by tape) in a secret pocket in his hat.

It took several weeks of petitioning and a hunger strike, but Colin eventually managed to secure permission to go to the museum. His memory of the exhibition itself is a blur. He remembers wonder, and joy, and the animals themselves, but nothing more specific. But when he walked out the door, Colin distinctly remembers looking up at the sky and knowing where he wanted to be.

Colin returned to the orphanage and began planning, stealing extra food, clothes and anything else he could, and hiding it in the shelves of the library during his daily trips. Instead of reading about natural history in the library, he would scour the news of any ships leaving Boston, looking for a likely target. Within a few weeks, he was ready. He walked to the library as usual, took his bag out of its hiding space, and immediately ran to the docks, where he stowed away to leave his home planet.

He was of course caught, as stowaways generally are. He was allowed to stay and work on the ship, though he would be kicked off the second they landed on Mars. As a youth wandering space alone, though, Colin was sure to get into a scrape quickly, and he did during his first trip to Mars. Having initially seen a stuffed version of the Martian Desert Devil (a kind of lizard) at the museum on Earth, he was extremely anxious to see one in person—he was captivated by the similarities between Martian monitors and terran dinosaurs and wanted to know if there was some common origin, and how they moved. His curiosity led him to a severely ill-advised attempt—at 14 years of age—to wander from the spaceport alone into the deep Martian desert in search of Desert Devils. He was lost within hours and had begun to suffer from dehydration by the next morning. Being utterly lost and at wit’s end, he decided at least he’d see try to see a Desert Devil before he died, and began walking in widening circles, looking for their tracks. 

On the third day he found the Devils. Or rather, they found him, and they were not happy about him being there. They chased Colin up the nearest martian cactus, despite the spikes, and he spent a fair portion of the next day bleeding and dehydrating, sitting on top of a giant cactus surrounded by angry Desert Devils. 

Colin was eventually rescued by a Martian lizard man named Metzpil, who scared off the lizards and begin nursing the near-death teenager back to health. Watching Metzpil interact with the world around him was a revelation for Colin—Metzpil understood nature in a way the books he had read in childhood didn’t mention and likely couldn’t understand, and could make things happen by his relationship with the natural world. He seemed able to talk to animals and plants. After a few halting days, Colin began to pick up the rudiments of the Druidic language, and began asking Metzpil questions about everything. Eventually, he became a de-facto apprentice to Metzpil, and began learning the ways of the druid. 

Colin spent the next 5 years learning everything he could about nature on mars, and about druidic magic. After 5 years, Metzpil gave Colin a choice: He could stay and master the Martian desert, and become a student and guardian of Mars’ natural environment like Metzpil. Or he could leave Mars to see what the wider universe had to offer. Metzpil likely expected that to be a hard decision, but Colin hadn’t forgotten about his childhood interest in the animals of Venus, and leapt at the chance to get back on a spaceship and see them in person. He returned to the spaceport, and using his expertise with Martian wildlife, talked his way onto a ship heading to Venus. That transporter was carrying not only durable goods, but a small group tasked with attempting to photograph the Venusian jungles. 

Colin’s original intent was to simply leave the group as soon as they landed, and go off in search of another Druid to apprentice with. But during the voyage between Mars and Venus, Colin began talking with their photographer, and became interested in the science behind the camera’s optics. He decided to accompany the group on their ill-fated expedition into the deepest reaches of the Venusian jungle. The rest of the group did NOT last long—eyeball cobras killed the last of them 6 days after they left the spaceport. Colin survived, leaning on his druidic understanding of the natural world and his survival abilities. He took the camera from the now-eyeball-less photographer, figured out how to work it, and made his first near-honest paycheck by selling his shots of the Venusian jungle to various publications.

Colin spent the next 4 years on Venus, making a careful study of the plants and animals there and trying to find other druids he could learn from. He then once again felt the lure of space, and left Venus. He spent the next 5 years wandering between the planets, contacting the local druids in each place and working to understand their unique perspectives based on the natural world around them. This pattern would repeat over the next several years as he made his way around the solar system, working as a deckhand at times, and generally being raised by the crews of ships. He let the wind blow him, going from station to station, from ship to ship, talking to the crews, hearing their stories of amazing plants, creatures, and places, and then trying to go there to see them himself. He continued to randomly hop from planet to planet, seeking out the weirdest new animals and plants as they were discovered, and trying to take their pictures. He always stowed away, and is to this day proud of the fact that he has never had a ticket for any starship he has traveled on.

Now 28, Colin has seen more of the universe’s creatures than most people ever will, and has one of them for a best friend.

01)  Where is your character from?

        Originally from Boston, but with no real roots there. Colin considers himself a citizen of the galaxy and a spacer first, an earthling second, and human dead last. His home is on the various stations and ships traversing between the planets, and the wild places on the planets themselves.

02)  Where did they get their training or learn their skills?

        Colin started with book learning about nature, which led him into space. He was stranded on a trip to Mars, and was rescued by a Martian lizard druid named Metzpil, who trained him in the ways of nature and in druidic magic. He would eventually self-teach photography in the jungles of Venus.

03)  What is / was their family background?

        Colin is an orphan. He never knew his parents and doesn’t really care. He had a good upbringing in the orphanage.

04)  What is their view of magic use and magic users?

As a Druid/Scientific Naturalist, Colin believes there’s an underlying natural force of selection, which is both scientific and magical at the same time. There is an overt quasi-magical power of nature, and an underlying structure of natural law, that applies across all planets, organisms and ecosystems. Humans express and study that magic through the science they have developed by examining the natural law, but that just defines the window being looked through—the actual magic of nature is outside of scientific inquiry and rejects study, it simply is, and exists everywhere. Druidic study teaches one to recognize the natural order and the magic of living things, and allows a druid to tap into the magic of nature. A combination of scientific study and contemplation allow a druid to harness the power of nature itself to alter reality. 

Colin finds arcane magic fascinating. He is interested in how magic interacts with the natural forces of selection, especially how it manifests in animals, and how in some cases “natural" creatures have seemingly arcane magical powers.

Colin recognizes the existince of divine magic and recognizes that the way it is channelled is very similar to druidic magic. He finds the similarities between divine and druidic magic to be interesting but he finds divine magic too focused on “people” and too limited. He wonders if Divine power comes from Natural magic, or vice versa. 

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?)

Colin has very little interest in terrestrial events, and even less in the actions of governments. He cares more about what they do with nature than with people. He would be offended by large scale environmental damage or slavery (he finds the slavery of animals upsetting but knows he has to deal with it) and would fight to repair it, but otherwise pays almost no attention to politics.

06)  Have they been to another planet yet? Do they want to go some day?

Colin has been to Mars and Venus and is somewhat known at most space stations because he helps sailors write home, and takes their pictures. He knows the environments and the ecosystems of both planets very well, and is familiar with the culture of the space stations, having bounced around them for the past 15 years or so.

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?

Money doesn’t have much use in the wild, and Colin generally doesn’t need it to get TO the wild either, so he has very little use for money. He generally has money because his photographs are valuable, but he spends it on impulse, tends to give it away, etc. Money just isn’t something he thinks about, he managed without it for most of his life, and now that he has it, he finds it amusing and useless and utterly unnatural. So in short, he’d probably waste it.

08)  What religion (if any) does your character follow, and how fervently?

See above for basic cosmology. 

I can see him explaining it like this: “When most people see a plant or animal, they see a thing, an object, not a subject. That’s their first mistake. Everything natural is part of the whole system, and none of it is senseless or static. It’s all connected, is all alive and aware, and it’s all part of the power that underlies everything. When you look at a tree, you look at it through science alone and you only see a tree. When I look at a tree, I see the evolutionary selection that made it, the ecosystem it lives in, and most importantly, and hardest to see, the power of nature flowing through it, flowing through its selection over the past billion years, flowing through the environment around it. It’s like I basically see one more color and it’s in everything. And because i can see in that color, I can draw in that color too"

09)  What's one of their bad habits? How about a good habit?

Colin tends to be detached and more interested in the overall span of the natural world than in worldly events. He can be oblivious, especially to politics and religion. Although normally pretty steady and considered, Colin will also follow his curiosity into dangerous situations when animals are involved, especially very weird ones.

Since Colin doesn’t consider himself “From anywhere” he tends to get along with most people, providing they’re kind to animals and nature in general. He has no reference for the big sociopolitical problems of the day, so he tends to stay out of the fray.

10)  What does your character do with their leisure time?

Colin draws avidly (mostly animals and plants). Taking pictures is extremely time consuming so he does that more rarely, but really enjoys it when he’s in a situation that works for photography. He’s lousy at cards, which his opponents love, especially since he’s also terrible with money. He also spends time with his lizard, teaching him tricks and basically hanging out.

11)  What would your character order at a restaurant? Does this answer change if someone else is paying for the meal?

Colin is a vegetarian whenever possible. He only kills animals for food if lives are in danger. But he feeds Link meat, and sees no conflict between those items—Link NEEDS meat but Colin does not.

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?

Colin finds Skaven, Red and Green lizard men and Tripod martians to be interesting parts of the whole Natural order. He can be a bit curious, and may ask uncomfortable or socially inappropriate questions about their morphology and environment, but he really enjoys being around them and understanding their differences. He’s especially fond of Martian Red Lizardmen.

13)  Where do they live when not adventuring? Is it just a rented room somewhere or an actual home?

Colin is a drifter and a stowaway. On-planet, he’s always more comfortable out of doors, and ideally in a remote place outside of town. He generally won’t stay in an inn if he can avoid it. When he’s on a ship or station, he can usually be found with the low-level employees and semi-criminal types in whatever passes for Steerage or the crew quarters. There he tends to help others, taking pictures, reading and writing for them, etc., which facilitates his ability to stow away on nearly any vessel.

14)  How does your character tend to dress when out in the field having adventures? Are their "town clothes" different from this?

Colin doesn’t have separate town clothes, and doesn’t really understand why anyone would. He dresses utilitarian, with heavy-duty clothes with lots of pockets, almost always in planet-appropriate tones (I don’t want to say earth tones because I’m sure he’d wear reddish ones on Mars). He wears midnight blue hide armor made of the tough skin of the Venusian Hippopotamus over whatever else he’s wearing if he’s expecting a fight. And he always wears his lucky hat, beat up and badly damaged, but precious to him. He carries no obvious weapons, apart from a single hunk of Venusian Hickory he uses as a club—he has a walking stick but doesn’t generally use it as a weapon unless he has no other option.

15)  How does your character pack for travel or for going out into the field for adventuring?

Colin packs very light, because he knows the natural world will supply him with almost everything he needs. He has a handful of well-worn, well-traveled tools and a few durable pieces of clothing and storage equipment, but that’s basically all. He forages for food, uses magic, etc., and can be very self sufficient for a long time without many supplies.

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.)

Colin is largely self-taught, but very knowledgeable about nature, photography, and spacefaring. He’s very dumb about culture, human history, current events and politics, though, since he has very little exposure. He could probably learn about those things but he finds them incredibly boring and superficial.

17)  What is your character afraid of?

His formative Cactus experience makes Colin afraid of being surrounded and stuck, unable to move. He always tries to position himself so he can’t be completely encircled and has a way out, which he learned by watching Link and other similar species.

18)  Does your character owe a significant favor to anyone? Does anyone owe them a significant favor?

Outsiders might think that Colin owes Metzpil for saving his life. But within the druidic mindset, that sort of act isn’t really about heroism, more about the natural order. So I wouldn’t think either Metzpil or Colin would consider that a debt. They’d consider something that happened within the arc of nature, and something to be acknowledged and then ignored. Instead, Colin believes he owes the denizens of the natural world his interest, understanding, and where necessary, protection. He actually thinks everyone owes that to nature, but they don’t know they do, and he doesn’t try to hold that against them unless they’re doing something awful to living things.

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?

Colin is interested in seeing and understanding the natural universe, the ecosystems of the planets, and the living things that make each place their home. He’s interested in how things get the way they are, and in why. He primarily acts out of curiosity, with a bit of altruism thrown in here and there. He doesn’t care much about people. Colin expects he’ll die somewhere off planet, and that he’ll feed whatever ecosystem he dies in. He’s not too bothered about that.

20)  What, if anything, does your character consider to be a cause worth dying for? What would they see as a good death?

Colin would die to protect an environment from large scale destruction. But he’s more likely to die accidentally while trying to learn something. Dying trying to learn isn’t a death at all to him, and of course death doesn’t end the natural world, only his vision of it. His detachment carries over to this, he understands that death is just part of the natural cycle. He really doesn’t care too much.

Bonus question #21:  What advice would you give your character if you could?

“May all your hits be crits”!

But seriously, I’d guess I’d say that while the detachment is _kinda_ good, it’s OK to attach a bit….