WHITE STAR

BARD PAPER: DANI3601

Reginald Vampire Ship

HISTORY

Reginald is Puppeteer controlling a Subsidized Merchant operating out of Diaspora sector. He was never very good at being a Puppeteer, and never managed to gain control of anything other than the merchant ship. About five years ago he suffered a catastrophic failure in the engine room, while in the Orsk/Promise/Diaspora system. The accident destroyed his heplar recombustion chamber and heavily damaged his jump drive. There was little chance of rescue, so Reginald tried to jump to Promise. The damaged drive, managed to enter jump space but misjumped to the Fijan system.

Reginald is now stranded in deep space, 1.9 lightyears from the Fijan Primary. He doesn't have enough fuel to engage his jump drive and it probably wouldn't get him anywhere anyway. With his Heplar destroyed, he can't even move. His residual velocity is carrying him towards the inner system, but he has calculated that it will take about 12,000 years, he is a bit uncertain of the exact date, because of insufficient data about the secondary. In a few years he will know with in year or so of when he will arrive.

With nothing to do, but wait, he waited. With his electronic brains operating at many million times the speed of human thought, he quickly ran out of things to think about and grew bored. After three years of boredom, he went insane, well all Viruses are insane, but Reginald is even more looney than the average Vampire. Sometime after this he decided he was in love with Fija's primary star, Venticuulor This is a much purer love than humans or other organic lifeforms can feel. Organics' view of love is all wrapped up in mating and lust, Reginald's love is pure and noble. Reginald wanted to tell his new love what he thought of her, so he started to broadcast love songs. At first these were just broadcasts of songs in Reginald's library, but he felt those didn't have the personal touch, so he started to record his own song. Many of the tunes he sings are classic love ballads, but he also composes his own lyrics and tunes. He broadcasts non-stop, and often interjects his stream of conscious poetry. He broadcasts on a standard radio band, and there is no danger of infection from his broadcasts. The broadcasts take close to two years to get to Fija (depending on where Fija is in her orbit)

Reginald has recently decided that the flares of Venticuulor are her arm reaching out to greet him. He has taken this as a sign that she returns his affection.

For more on the reaction to Reginald see the CIN reports on him.

Future Developments

While many people on Fija regard Reginald as harmless and possibly friendly, others such as the Templars regard him as a threat to all sentient lifeforms. While the Fijan military has decided not to destroy Reginald, they have not taken any steps to stop anyone else from doing so. It is likely that the Templars, or survivors of the vampire raid on Nike Nimbus, Freelancers out to make a name for themselves will probably destroy Reginald. He won't be able to put up much of a fight. He has two 150 Mj Laser Turrets, and two Sandcasters with 2d10 cans each, but no MFD and is unable to maneuver. He is the proverbial sitting duck. Reginald is a standard TL-12 Subsidized Merchant as in TNE:Rulebook.

Possible Adventures

When the Fijan Space Force first hears the messages from Reginald, they will dispatch several ships to the outer system, to triangulate the signal. The players maybe one of the ships. Though it will be somewhat dull, a week to jump to the outer system, a few days of listening, and a week to jump back. Perhaps the players actually manage to locate Reginald and make first contact.

The players may also decided to destroy Reginald, or rescue him. Either way someone is going to be unhappy. Imagine the Save Reggie Society picketing the player's ship, with signs that read 'Butchers'.

It is left to the individual referee to decide Reginald's views towards humanity. He may like humans, ignore them or activley seek their destruction. It should be noted that if the humans can enable Reginald to get closer to his beloved, he would be more favorable disposed towards humans.

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