Cleo, android starship mechanic
ST: 8 [10*] -- Swing 1d-2, Thrust 1d-4
DX: 13 [*] -- Basic Speed 5.25, Move 5
IQ: 12 [20]
HT: 10 [0] -- Hit Points 8
Point Total: 45
Advantages, Personal: Android Package (Arachne II) [12]; G-Experience [10]; Racial: Absolute Direction [*]; Ambidexterity [-]; Extra Limbs x2 [*]; Perfect Balance [*]; Oxygen Storage [*]; Temperature Tolerance [*]
Disadvantages, Personal: Compulsive Carousing [-5]; Pacifism (Self-Defense Only) [-15]; Sense of Duty (ship's crew) [-5]; Social Stigma (second class citizen) [-5]; Racial: Reduced Hit Points -2 [*]; Self-Destruct [*]; Short Lifespan (one level) [*]; Skinny [*]; Sterile [*]
* -- cost is partly or completely part of 'racial' package
Quirks: Changes hair color monthly (prefers metallic colors); Stubborn; Considers herself equal to humans; Always carries plenty of tools; Avid computer game player
Skills: Acrobatics-11 [1]; Carousing-10 [2]; Electronic Ops (Computer)-12 [1]; Electronic Ops (Sensors)-13 [2]; Free Fall-14 [4]; Geology-11 [1]; Hobby (Computer Games)-12 [0.5]*; Mechanic (Fusion Reactor)-13 [4]; Mechanic (FTL drives)-13 [4]; Mechanic (STL drives)-13 [4]; Prospecting-12 [2]; Vacc Suit-12 [2]
* half cost as Hobby skill
All skills are TL10 where appropriate.
Appearance
Cleo is 5'7", 100 lbs, short silver (currently) hair, blue eyes, apparent age late twenties, real age 15 years
Equipment
Cleo wears an engineer's jumpsuit (treat as an exploration suit) and carries mechanical, engineering and electronics mini-tool kits, a laser torch, multiview goggles, from 2-4 fire extinguisher tubes, a personal computer with a database on the ship and a tri-vid game, a sonic probe and whatever else she feels would be useful (which includes a lot).
Biography
Cleo is currently the de facto chief engineer on board a salvage ship operating on the Alliance frontier, but originally, things started out much differently. Fifteen years ago Cleo was purchased by the captain of a family-owned ship Aureus Fossor for use in asteroid mining, salvage operations, and helping to patch hull damage arising from the ship spending a great deal of time in asteroid fields. The family decided to raise and train her themselves, since they wanted Cleo to feel better adjusted around the crew and, as a bonus, to serve as a play companion for two children under five already on board the ship. The end result was not exactly what the captain/father wanted.
Cleo felt like she was a member of the family instead of being an android slave; the two children likewise treated her as a sister. In an effort to cut off a potential problem, on Cleo's 12th birthday, her "adoptive" father legally freed her. However, she is still often treated as an inferior (sometimes like any other slave) by many strangers, who are used to seeing her kind only as tools to be used.
Nearly two years ago, disaster struck the Aureus Fossor; it's shuttle, holding three of the Fossor's 14 crewmembers, suffered a manuever-drive failure while lifting off from a vaccum world. The craft fell back to the surface, killing the chief engineer, sensor officer and geologist. The Fossor returned to the nearest post and didn't left off for nearly two months. In the end, it was decided that the ship would continue, with remaining crewmembers taking on additional responsibilites rather than hiring replacements.
Currently, Cleo is serving as chief engineer and assistant geologist. She is not quite as cheerful as she used to be, since the previous geologist had been one of the children she had been raised with.
Encountered
Cleo is usually found aboard the Aureus Fossor; she will, at times, leave the ship at spaceports but almost always travels with another crew member. This is usually a good thing, since she has a habit of hitting party spots at local starports.
Canonically
Cleo is designed using normal rules. The Arachne II bioroid is described on p.RO123 and general bioroid rules are on p.RO74-81. Her Quirk regarding equality is likely to be a Delusion (or perhaps Odious Personal habit) in some campaigns. Most of the crew has a Sense of Duty to the other crewmembers, and this includes Cleo.
What if?
The character background assumes that bioroids are legally considered property, but can be granted freedom by their owners after 12 years (since they age faster), but are still no better than second-class citizens. If all bioroids (from birth) are treated as second-class citizens (likely in many campaigns), only minor details need to be changed.
Alternatively, Cleo could be an alien. Her racial Disadvantages of Self-Destruct and Sterile should be dropped or changed; Short Lifespan may be kept if desired. Perhaps she was the daughter of an old family friend killed in an accident and she was adopted to repay an old debt or promise.
Note that how the GM handles Cleo's social standing depends largely on the campaign. In a light-hearted game, it should not come up often. In a dark and gritty campaign, the players should be reminded of it on a daily basis.
Campaign Uses
The most obvious way to use Cleo, of course, is for the PCs to be crewmembers of the Aureus Fossor (given that it is a privately-owned ship, there are many opportunities for this sort of campaign -- see p.GT:FT108-109). If someone wants to run Cleo as a PC, this should be fairly easy to do. The easiest way to increase her point total is to increase one or more attributes. If the PCs are currently not part of a ship's crew, they could (intentionally or not) save Cleo from a human supremacy gang (or the like). As gratitude, they may be offered jobs on the ship.