Second Dawn:Eugene Kennedy

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This is a reference document for the LARP The Second Dawn.

Eugene Kennedy Player: Simon M Rebellious son and cultist Age: 20ish

Additional information (read first): Seerstones, Star Brothers

Background: You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, the eldest son of the rich and politically influential Franklin Kennedy. You always received the best of everything, from food to tutors to women. After you showed an interest in Seerstones as a teenager, your father made sure you never went without and that you were free to pursue your (as you saw it) art. Such intellectual pursuits were rare for non-Tinkers, but you weren’t interested by using and writing logic; you liked using them to record visual scenes. You quickly developed a love for capturing particularly telling pictures and scenes, and you used your father’s influence (by now, he was President Grant’s Chief of Staff) to get into all sorts of places where you shouldn’t have been allowed. A romantic (and perhaps a bit of a voyeur), you especially liked catching moments of true love and passion. It was both a thrill and a form of art to you, and it soon became an addiction. Before long, you had an entire collection of recordings of presidential secretaries, bodyguards, and even the occasional Minister in potentially compromising situations. As your subjects were not (sadly!) always involved in passionate affairs, you also had many seerstones showing people asleep at their desks, speaking on confidential topics with questionable-looking strangers, reading documents unrelated to their jobs, not to mention all mundane scenes that you generally did not bother to keep. All was well and good, until just over a year ago, when one of your father’s staff (supposedly a “housekeeper”, but really mostly a snoop) came across your stash and told your father. He immediately confiscated every seerstone he could find and gave you the biggest earful in your life. Lots of junk about personal privacy (talk about hypocrisy, considering how he found your stash!), the delicate nature of life for public officials, and the danger of offending or humiliating someone highly placed and what that might mean for his career. And so a minor risk to your father’s career meant that he was going to ruin your entire life. No way! Furious and full of rebellion, you decided to get revenge the only way your father would truly appreciate---by running away in the most scandalous way possible. He was worried about career? You’d give him something to worry about! Then he’d have to make amends, if only for political reasons. Right? In any case, you took what seerstones your father hadn’t found, went out, and joined a cult that showed up a few years ago in New Providence called the Star Brothers. They were a bit like the Old Religions, preaching humility for man before the terrible power and majesty of the Heavenly Host above. Unfortunately, your father was too angry and proud (and stubborn) to want to reconcile with you. He just suffered the scandal until it passed, no doubt resenting you all the more. The Star Brothers’ faith, however, was far more compelling than you expected. They didn’t preach about long-dead prophets, abstract ideals disconnected from reality as you see it, or other such nonsense. They had received a real, live Messenger from the heavens in your lifetime, and they were trying to slowly spread an awareness and reverance for the Heavenly Host above. You can respect belief in something that a person can see with his own eyes, and you itched for a chance to bear witness to the inner mysteries of the church which were reserved for the more advanced of the Star Brothers. Since you weren’t expecting to be initiated into the higher orders of the Star Brothers very soon, you decided to spy on the initiation ceremony of another acolyte. Falling back into old habits, you set up well ahead of time in an unobtrusive corner of the Outer Sanctum with one of your few remaining seerstones. When night fell, the High Priest led a procession of Star Brothers in, leading an incomprehensible chant as he unlocked the heavy door to the small Inner Sanctum within. There was a brief sermon and a few vows spoken, and then the high priest unveiled a strange-looking stone vessel (the Ark of the Messenger?), opened it, bade the new initiate cut open his forearm, then pulled out---something. You had to half-stand and crane your neck to really see what it was, as the High Priest placed it on the open bleeding wound of the initiate. It was a pulsing lump of flesh in the shape of a seven-pointed star. The church of the Heavenly Host was based on fact. Overwhelmingly sickening and terrifying fact. Fighting back a retch, you quickly fled from the Sanctum, going outside to throw up. To throw up, and then to look up at the stars in horror. That was only a few weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, you learned that the High Priest would be travelling to the launch platform of the Second Dawn to try to talk some humility into the unbelievers before they enter the heavens without showing proper reverance to the Heavenly Host. Agreeing completely with this mission, you volunteered for the expedition, pointing out that you might be able to sway your father to the cause of the Star Brothers. You can only hope that you can convince the people in power of the reality of this threat before it is too late. The Heavenly Host is a horror beyond human imagination, and the only way for them to save themselves is to prove themselves worthy by joining in worship and reverence.

Roleplaying Notes: You are a rich, pampered, rebellious, busy-body voyeur of a young man. You resent your father for denying you your beloved hobby, though you wouldn’t say you hate him (after all he’s done for you). If he managed to spare your pride (by apologizing, for instance), you might even forgive him---though if he’s still being a hard-ass, you wouldn’t mind making a bit of trouble for him. You miss the freedom of your old lifestyle, and would like to have it reinstated---by your father, or by anyone else with the means. Also, you sincerely (fanatically, even) believe in and are terrified by the secrets of the Star Brothers, and you desperately want to convince others of the danger a non-reverent mankind faces in the stars above.

Goals: 1) Warn people about the terrible danger to mankind that is the Heavenly Host. 2) Acquire physical evidence of the Heavenly Host to show as proof of their existence. 3) Get your former privileges and lifestyle reinstated, by any means possible. 4) Record people in compromising situations.

Opinions: The Second Dawn: At first you thought it was a cool idea, and it was your father’s (and his boss’s) pet project. Then you hated it because you were mad at your father. Now you’re terrified of it because it may offend the Heavenly Host! You should probably ask Whittaker about it. Religion: You were raised to follow the Old Religion of Christianity, and you guess you believed in it. The Star Brothers taught you a lot of things that were similar, but much scarier. And something sure did come down as a Messenger from the Heavens, so you pretty much believe the Star Brothers, which means mankind is in real trouble if he doesn’t recognize the Heavenly Host, and fast. Tinkers: A bunch of selfish, inbred weirdoes. You wish this Union weren’t so dependent on them. Plains States: You hear things are more free out there, which sounds nice, but also that everything is wild, and a Warlord rules everyone. You hope they stay where they are, and leave things safe and cushy out east. Space: It contains the Heavenly Host! Humans should not go up there until they’re truly ready. Black Science: Everyone knows that stuff is bad for you.

Key Information: •Your father is the President’s Chief of Staff. You had a big fight about a year ago over your spying on people with seerstones, you ran off to join the Star Brothers, and you haven’t been back since. •Your original parents split up when you were young; five years ago, your father got remarried to a much younger woman, Patricia. She was okay, but you’ve never been real close to your stepmom. •The Star Brothers take their name from the seven-pointed piece of flesh that they attach to their advanced members in a secret ceremony. The flesh comes from the Ark of the Messenger, the vessel in which that celestial being descended to Earth some years ago. •You want to be able to prove the reality of the Star Brothers’ faith to your father, the president, or anyone else who might have some influence. You have a seerstone of a Star Brother initiation rite, but it doesn’t show the thing, so you’d like to get more evidence if possible. •You believe that the Heavenly Host is a horrifying, terrible danger, not the Star Brothers. In fact, the rites of the Star Brothers are surely the only way for mankind to protect itself from the Heavely Host. •Among your collection of candid seerstones is one showing the Minister of the Army, Kara Atkinson, and the now-pilot of the Second Dawn, Captain Pearce, locked in a passionate embrace. Back when you took it, you just thought it was hot, but now it suggests possible impropriety in the choice of captain for the Second Dawn mission. •You have another seerstone with possible blackmail material: the Minister of the Watch, Luther Gaines, discussing meeting someone to go gambling. Gambling is illegal in New Hudson, but the blackmail material here is iffy; they’re going to leave the city to gamble, so they aren’t actually doing anything illegal. Sure would be embarrassing, though.

People Known (in approximate order of importance): Franklin Kennedy, Chief of Staff (Matt W): Your father, and one of the individuals most responsible for the Second Dawn project. While he is a stern, career-minded man, you are still pretty sure that he cares about you, and that he is reasonable enough to listen to you if you can prove you’re not just crazy. Isaiah Whittaker (Joey B): The high priest of the Star Brothers, he was the one you saw leading that ceremony. A charismatic man with an air of mystery about him. He seems genuinely concerned about the impending doom for an ignorant and irreverent mankind making its way into space, and though you are somewhat afraid of the man, you know that for right now, you are on the same side, and you somewhat reflexively follow his orders. Elizabeth Rowell (Isabel K): A worker on the Second Dawn, she is also a low-ranking member of the Star Brothers. A bit of a plebeian, she ought to show you more respect than she does. Mario Patriarca (Paul S): Head of the Dawn’s construction team. He’s a second-uncle or something, he’s told you that you can always come to him if you’re in trouble. You haven’t been close in years, but that might actually make things easier. Kara Atkinson, Minister of the Army (Hillary K): a hard-as-nails military type. You have a rather racy picture of her and Captain Pearce together, which suggests that the honor of piloting the Second Dawn might not have been earned in the usual way. You usually wouldn’t want to cross her, but you’ve got the dirt, and these are desperate times. Captain Pearce (Rachel O): She was just another member of the military when you caught her and Kara Atkinson together. You guess she found her way to the top (so to speak). You think Isaiah has some sort of plan involving the Second Dawn; if necessary, maybe you could blackmail her into cooperating. Raymond Latour (Adam K): The other Star Brothers mentioned this guy from the Maple Kingdom---he joined the church, spied on them, then ran off! If he left because he was scared, you can’t say you blame him. If he understands the dangers of the Heavenly Host, he might well be willing to help spread the word. Jonothan Grant, President of the Union (Ted M): The President was single-mindedly focused on the Second Dawn, so you doubt you can convince him to stop the launch, but he certainly has to power to do so. Maybe Isaiah would be able to convince him, if you can arrange for a meeting. Kenneth Sanford (?): The President’s bodyguard. He gave you a sound beating the few times he caught you trying to spy on the president. You’d rather not give him occasion to do that again.

Ratings: Pilot: 0 R: 0 D: 1 G: 2

Nametag Symbols: E, F

Attributes: Physical: Defense 3 Pool Rating 3 [] [] [] Mental: Defense 3 Pool Rating 3 [] [] [] Social: Defense 3 Pool Rating 3 [] [] []

Recoveries: -Observe someone react positively to, or consider joining, the Star Brothers (+1 point, 3/hour) -Observe someone react with fear about the Heavenly Host (+2 points, 1/hour) -Act stuck-up, or take someone or something for granted (+1 point, 2/hour)

Abilities: Fisticuffs, penetrating insight, charm, suspect, entice, observation, theft, evasive (x1), where have you been?

Items: Piece of jewelry, clear seerstone (x2), babbage, purple seerstone

Observation Activation cost: 1 mental Requirement: Leave a seerstone in a location, and have another seersone and a babbage on your person. System: You may use the “not here” hand sign to observe the goings-on in that location for up to 10 minutes. You must stand within 10’ of the seerstone’s location. Limits: You may not use the same Seerstone twice without recovering and resetting it. If someone else moves or takes the Seerstone before you use this ability or while you’re using it, you can no longer use this ability.