Exploring Atlantis 3: Meet the PCs Part 2

Next up in Meet the PCs is EC's character:

Name: Asrok        Profession: Assassin
Race: Human   Culture: Hesperian     Age: 24    Renown: 0

Attributes:   Str +1  Dex +4   Con 0  Spd 0   Int +2  Per +2  Wil 0  Cha +1  
Combat Rating +2  Magic Rating 0  Wealth Rating +5 
Hit Points 20   Hero Points  6  (1 in Earth, 2 in Air, 2 in Water, 1 in The Void)

Skills:
 Athletics: 10   Deception 6  Disable Mechanism 8  Evade: 6  Influence: 5,  
Instinct: Initiative 4  Languages: Atlantean 10, Hellene 5  Literacy: Atlantean 7  
Lore: Theology 3,  Navigate 3  Parry: 6  Profession: Assassin 10  Ride: 8  Stealth: 10  Unarmed Fighting: 10  Weapon: Gun 0, Heavy 0, Melee 10, Ranged 9, Thrown 5


 Talents: Shadow Walking, Wealthy

Disadvantages:  Relationship: Scorned Amazonian lover
                              Internal:  Code of conduct- Unwilling to kill bystanders
                              External: Debt of service to Atlantean crime lord

Destiny: To become the most skilled assassin in the world


Walking the Life Paths.  Asrok had a civilized Upbringing and is the "Child of a Retired Hero".  He had a Childhood Encounter where he "Saw a star fall from the sky and found its remains." Family Status brought the result "Family is poised for greatness or unbelievable failure." Asrok went through the Previous Adventures section 3 times. At the end, Asrok had battled  alongside  the  great  Nubian  warrior  Shabataka and learned the art of misdirection and evasion from him, made a lifelong friend in the city of Tartessos, and made an enemy of an ex-lover.


Asrok is a good example how the Life Path system can be useful to the GM as well as the player. EC chose Hesperia as his male character's culture. (He did so because he liked the accompanying skills and bonuses, without bothering to read about Hesperia.) But Hesperia is the land of the Amazons. A native male assassin should be an unlikely prospect in Hesperia. But what if there was an organization of male assassins in Hesperia? It would be greatly feared and hated.

Thus were born the 'Little Brothers of the Night', an order of assassins that is the terror of Hesperia. Run by women, (this is still the land of the Amazons after all), the 'Little Brothers' are trained by women known as the 'Elder Sisters'. All answer to the 'Revered Mother', whose identity is known by few, if any, of the other members. It is this organization that Asrok has fled Hesperia to escape after a romance with one of the Elder Sisters went bad (which accounts for his Disadvantage: Ex-lover for an enemy).

The Life Paths also can be used to tie some of the characters together. If we look back at Tafkap's Life Paths, we see that he spent some time fighting with the Amazons. This can explain how he and Asrok are acquainted. They met during Tafkap's time in Hesperia. In Asrok, Tafkap saw a skilled travelling companion from whom he could possibly learn some new fighting techniques. In Tafkap, Asrok saw a ticket away from his current problems in Hesperia.