Let's vote up another Burning Wheel Character!

[Totally Guy]

Dreamer was really good in play for an Orc blacksmith that was a player character in one of my games.

[Urpriest]

Whoa here she comes, watch out boyz she'll chew you up, whoa here she comes, she's a Manhunter...

And if that doesn't work, Thousand-Yard Stare

[CarpeGuitarrem]

All right, Thousand-Yard Stare it is! Now comes the bit where we pick a random little character trait...so let's have a smattering of interesting ones! (You can also feel free to suggest some of your own, to be duly bandwagoned on.)

These traits are "character traits"; they don't have any mechanical impact beyond being fate fodder. (Fate is an in-game currency that gives little bonuses, earned generally by complicating things for your character via traits and beliefs.)

So, pick your favorite character trait, and a runner-up!

Character Traits
Appreciation for Beauty
Erudite
Evasive
Hypochondriac
Fondness for Elven Blood
Melodramatic Family
Reincarnated
You Should Know Better Than That!

If you don't find any of these to be suitable, lemme know. I think I picked out a fun selection, though.

[Acanous]

Oh heck yeah Fondness for Elven Blood
with a side order of Melodramatic Family

[Sodalite]

I'll just go with straight Melodramatic Family, my second choice being Erudite.

[Acanous]

Well, if you want to cut back on the calories, sure. But Elven Blood just goes with everything...

[Zelphas]

I like the juxtaposition of Appreciation for Beauty with Thousand Yard Stare. I can just imagine this Orc stopping a horrendous torture scene to walk over and pick a single unblemished flower in the gore, commenting mildly in the pleasant smell of the flower before turning back to her work.

[Xefas]

Melodramatic Family all the way. Goes perfectly with my seven evil mother-in-laws idea.

[Sanguine]

Melodramatic Family and Reincarnated

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Fondness for Elven Blood, because everybody should have a goal in life.

[Totally Guy]

Fondness for Elven Blood, because everybody should have a goal in life.

Me too. Fondness for Elven Blood

Melodramatic Family all the way. Goes perfectly with my seven evil mother-in-laws idea.

Older orcs are more badass orcs. There are going to be orcs older and more badass than this one? No way!

[The Glyphstone]

Fondness for Elven Blood

[Amphetryon]

I like the juxtaposition of Appreciation for Beauty with Thousand Yard Stare. I can just imagine this Orc stopping a horrendous torture scene to walk over and pick a single unblemished flower in the gore, commenting mildly in the pleasant smell of the flower before turning back to her work.

This one, please.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Interesting...the race is a bit more mixed this time...

[Spamotron]

First Choice: Melodramatic Family
Second Choice: Appreciation For Beauty

[Sith_Happens]

I like the juxtaposition of Appreciation for Beauty with Thousand Yard Stare. I can just imagine this Orc stopping a horrendous torture scene to walk over and pick a single unblemished flower in the gore, commenting mildly in the pleasant smell of the flower before turning back to her work.

So much this.

[Acanous]

Current tally:
Appreciation for Beauty: 4
Melodramatic Family: 5
Fondness for Elven Blood: 4
Erudite: 1
Reincarnated: 1

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Aaaand it looks like that clinches it for Melodramatic Family! (Fondness for Elven Blood wasn't able to capture the 50% necessary for an off-the-bat win, and the runoff furnished M.F. with enough votes to edge it out...)

???, female orc, 92 years old

G7 Will, B6 Perception, G6 Forte, B5 Power, B5 Speed, B4 Agility

Skills
Armor Training, Shield Training, Mounted Combat Training (no ranks, just training skills)

G8 Command
G6 Oratory
G6 Intimidation
??+3 Brutal Intimidation (rooted in Hatred)

G6 Riding
G5 Great Wolf Husbandry
B8 Strategy

B3 Brawling
B7 Spears

B5 Name Ritual
B7 Clan-wise
B3 Rumor-wise

Traits

Racial
Cannibal, Cold Black Blood, Breeder, Fanged and Clawed, Loathsome and Twisted, Lynx-Eyed, Vile Language

Required
Born to Rule Them All, Life is Death, Silent Hatred, Intense Hatred, Savage Consequences, Brooding, Flights of Murderous Fancy

Chosen
Enemy of the Sun, Thousand-Yard Stare, Melodramatic Family

Now it's time to determine Health, Steel, and Hatred! Answer each of the following questionnaires with "yes" or "no" for each question; majority for each question will be declared canonical (oh, what a Frankenstein...)--and the most interesting explanations that are in accord with the majority vote will find their way into the character canon!

Health

Spoiler

Show

Does the character live in squalor and filth?
Is the character frail or sickly?
Was the character severely wounded in the past?
Has the character been tortured and/or enslaved? (specify)
Is the character athletic and active?

Steel

Spoiler

Show

Has the character ever murdered or killed with her own hand? More than once? (seems like a no-brainer, but it is a question on the questionnaire)
Has the character given birth to a child?

Hatred

Spoiler

Show

Has she ever killed her superior/parents?
Has she ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in a battle?

[Xefas]

Health

Spoiler

Show

Does the character live in squalor and filth?
Is the character frail or sickly?
Was the character severely wounded in the past?
Has the character been tortured and/or enslaved? (specify)
Is the character athletic and active?

1) No, of course not. Even when she's not holed up in her dread citadel of black iron, whatever war-camp is hosting her has plenty of menial servants to be filthy in her stead.

2) No. If she was, she'd be dead by now. Orc standards for healthcare and the general social perspective they have for the injured or infirm would've made sure of that.

3) No. See #2.

4) Tortured? Sure. The Named One she was serving in her younger days, before she got her own Name that is, liked to teach his most loyal followers the pain that is life. Said that it would make them strong. It did, in fact, and She grew very tough over the years. Until, eventually, she saw a moment of weakness in her superior, and gutted him for it. It was for pride, and survival of the fittest, and so on... but there was some revenge there, too. Not long after, she landed a promotion and underwent the Naming Ritual.

5) Yes. See #2.

Steel

Spoiler

Show

Has the character ever murdered or killed with her own hand? More than once? (seems like a no-brainer, but it is a question on the questionnaire)
Has the character given birth to a child?

6) Yes/Yes. She doesn't bother remembering most of them, although she occasionally sees 'em again regardless. Where? Thousand yards away, give or take.

7) Yeah. I mean, seven husbands, it'd be weird if she didn't have a few kids lurking about.

Hatred

Spoiler

Show

Has she ever killed her superior/parents?
Has she ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in a battle?

8) Yes. See #4. Didn't interact with her parents much before they went off and died in battle. Not much of a tragic orphan story, though. By that time, she was already making a name for herself putting spears through elf-skulls.

9) Yes. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[The Glyphstone]

...Add +1 to everything above, saves me the effort of writing it myself.

[Analytica]

Hatred
Does the character live in squalor and filth?

No.

Is the character frail or sickly?

No.

Was the character severely wounded in the past?

Yes, but she won that battle anyway. Not in the last few decades though.

Has the character been tortured and/or enslaved? (specify)

Yes, see previous suggestion with supervisor.

Is the character athletic and active?

Yes.

Steel
Has the character ever murdered or killed with her own hand? More than once? (seems like a no-brainer, but it is a question on the questionnaire)

Yes.

Has the character given birth to a child?

A few litters every year or so, but she is not slowed down much by her pregnancies. She eats any sickly or malformed newborns and hand the rest to her harem of he-orcs to train into strong warriors, in whichever way they seem fit. Only if the survivors of that Orc agoge learn to best their fathers in combat will she recognize them as her own and give them Names.

Hatred
Has she ever killed her superior/parents?

Yes, see previous suggestion.

Has she ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in a battle?

Yes, see previous suggestion.

[Zelphas]

1) No, of course not. Even when she's not holed up in her dread citadel of black iron, whatever war-camp is hosting her has plenty of menial servants to be filthy in her stead.

2) No. If she was, she'd be dead by now. Orc standards for healthcare and the general social perspective they have for the injured or infirm would've made sure of that.

3) No. See #2.

4) Tortured? Sure. The Named One she was serving in her younger days, before she got her own Name that is, liked to teach his most loyal followers the pain that is life. Said that it would make them strong. It did, in fact, and She grew very tough over the years. Until, eventually, she saw a moment of weakness in her superior, and gutted him for it. It was for pride, and survival of the fittest, and so on... but there was some revenge there, too. Not long after, she landed a promotion and underwent the Naming Ritual.

5) Yes. See #2.



6) Yes/Yes. She doesn't bother remembering most of them, although she occasionally sees 'em again regardless. Where? Thousand yards away, give or take.

7) Yeah. I mean, seven husbands, it'd be weird if she didn't have a few kids lurking about.


8) Yes. See #4. Didn't interact with her parents much before they went off and died in battle. Not much of a tragic orphan story, though. By that time, she was already making a name for herself putting spears through elf-skulls.

9) Yes. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

This. Just... this.

[Amphetryon]

What Xephas said.

[Sanguine]

Hopping on the Bandwagon.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Well, that was certainly quick. Let's go over the relevant background information, then...

She was tortured by her Named One master, until she was able to best and kill him. Also, she tends to go Spartan on her kids, except for the sickly ones who become her dinner.

This is lovely.

Anyhow, let's have a look at the new attributes that have been generated!

Mortal Wound: B12 (for now, just know that it's really nasty. I'll save the health track computations for later, but...B12 means that she only takes a mortal wound from very high damage attacks)

Reflexes: 5 (quite respectable; she'll get this many actions per combat round, regularly split into three "volleys"...most people only get 3 or 4)

G7 Health (this is how quickly our orc recovers from injury)
B11 Steel (this is how well our character faces trauma and shock...effectively, how well she "steels her nerves"...dude, B11 Steel is ungodly. Just saying. Nothing will faze her.)
G5 Hatred (opening it at black shade would have put our character at 10 Hatred, which is the point at which an orc is so filled with hatred and loathing that they commit bloody suicide. Rules As Written. So I took the option to spend 5 points to make it grey shade.)

3 Hesitation, and it's modified under certain circumstances. Thousand-Yard Stare modifies this to 1 against pain, violence, and intimidation [Life is Death also includes "against injury"], but raises it to 5 against surprise and Wonderment (a special effect of Elven spells)
7 Stride (this is just a racial default, and rarely matters)

Recapping our orc's stats...

???, female orc, 92 years old

G7 Will, B6 Perception, G6 Forte, B5 Power, B5 Speed, B4 Agility

Skills
Armor Training, Shield Training, Mounted Combat Training (no ranks, just training skills)

G8 Command
G6 Oratory
G6 Intimidation
G5 Brutal Intimidation

G6 Riding
G5 Great Wolf Husbandry
B8 Strategy

B3 Brawling
B7 Spears

B5 Name Ritual
B7 Clan-wise
B3 Rumor-wise

Traits

Racial
Cannibal, Cold Black Blood, Breeder, Fanged and Clawed, Loathsome and Twisted, Lynx-Eyed, Vile Language

Required
Born to Rule Them All, Life is Death, Silent Hatred, Intense Hatred, Savage Consequences, Brooding, Flights of Murderous Fancy

Chosen
Enemy of the Sun, Thousand-Yard Stare, Melodramatic Family

Now, then, before we go on to buying stuff with our resource points, I will note that the character (by virtue of Born to Rule Them All) already has a 1D affiliation among Great and Black Orcs, and a 1D infamous reputation amongst the chattel. Keep that in mind as you vote.

We'll need to split up our resource points amongst relationships, gear, property, affiliations, and reputations. I'll ask you to rank each group, using the numbers 1 through 4 only once apiece, and from there I'll distribute points to each category, then we can buy!

Relationships: the people you know, for better or for worse (also, relatively cheap per relationship)
Affiliations: each lifepath loosely affiliates the character with a particular group; buy an affiliation to give them power in that group
Reputation: "You know what is reuptation? Is people talking, is gossip. I also have reputation; not so pleasant, I think you know."
Gear: stuff! Stuff! More stuff! This includes mounts, armor, weapons, and even clans/warbands.
Property: doesn't exist on the Orc gear list, but they're allowed, as Spoils of War, to spend resource points to purchase one item off of any race's item list, and this includes property.

So, don't rank Property, but do mention with your vote if you're interested in making use of Spoils of War. Rank Relationships, Gear, Affiliations, and Reputations from 1-4 in priority, and don't forget the free affiliation and reputation that the Orc already gets.

[Zelphas]

Here we go.

1. Reputations. This Orc is well-known (and really terrifying).
2. Relationships. The seven evil Mothers-in-law, right? (This sounds like a really twisted Cinderella parody)
3. Affiliations. She has power in her groups.
4. Gear. Meh, who needs personal gear when she can get it off the backs of other Orcs just by introducing herself?

I think she definitely has some Spoils of War, as well.

[Sodalite]

I'll second Zelphas's suggestion.

[Sith_Happens]

Now, then, before we go on to buying stuff with our resource points, I will note that the character (by virtue of Born to Rule Them All) already has a 1D affiliation among Great and Black Orcs, and a 1D infamous reputation amongst the chattel. Keep that in mind as you vote.

Does the "1D" mean we could pay to increase these to (2+)D and have even more political power? If so, then

1. Affiliations
2. Reputations
3. Gear
4. Relationships

If not, then switch 1 and 2.

[Spamotron]

The main problem is that with the concept we have going is that pretty much everything needs to be high. We have an Orc Julius Caesar thing going on so she needs a high Affiliation. With the 7 evil mothers-in-law concept we also have 7 husbands and children which is a lot of relationships even if all of them are antagonistic. She's a rising star who rocketed up to Great One pretty much as fast as it can possibly be done and we've made her skill at oratory a keystone of her character so she needs to be well known among the Orc Tribes so a decent number of points put into reputation. Finally gear is the least important to the character concept but it would be very odd for a Great One 3 to be equipped with crap.

If we split all the resource points mostly evenly between Affiliations, Relationships and Reputation to get what feels right in those three and then used whatever is left over for gear are there enough points to cover all three of the above character beats?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The main problem is that with the concept we have going is that pretty much everything needs to be high. We have an Orc Julius Caesar thing going on so she needs a high Affiliation. With the 7 evil mothers-in-law concept we also have 7 husbands and children which is a lot of relationships even if all of them are antagonistic.

In Burning Wheel, purchasing a relationship makes it relevant and important to the story. You're basically telling the GM "I paid for this, so bring it into the story please". This also means that not every minor character needs to be represented by a relationship, just those who we'd expect to bring up in a normal game. So if we wanted to focus on, say, a couple husbands and a couple mothers-in-law, and maybe a kid, that's five relationships, tops. Doesn't mean the others don't exist, just that they're not going to come into the campaign...which would be a bit of a nightmare, if you tried to represent all the important NPCs in a character's life, really...

That being said, relationships can go for dirt-cheap. Antagonistic family relationships with minor characters in the setting are a mere single resource point, less than shoddy weapons. Even relationships with somewhat-powerful characters are affordable.

Does the "1D" mean we could pay to increase these to (2+)D and have even more political power? If so, then

I don't see any rule in the books about it, but I don't see why not. That'd effectively just give a discount to the affiliation equal to what the 1D rank would normally cost. Which is a 40% discount for the 2D rank.