Though it will be interesting to see what levels of technology we'll be able to design and create starting out.
Because we're only 16 based on the character sheet. Also we got kicked out from the engineering school (I bet politics was involved somehow) and are generally banned from practicing our trade in the Empire:
You are a former engineer of the Empire, kicked out of your school and banned from all known establishments throughout its borders.
Otherworldly contraptions pumping steam through pipes to every inch of Altdorf ensuring not a single person remained cold even in the worst winter nights. Unsightly machines that look akin to an artist's understanding of what would happen if a wagon and a steam tank were to be blended roar through streets. Great steam whistles ring from atop cathedrals to announce the time of worship and time for work shifts to change.
Bizarre blending of machinery and ship tear through the Reik at a pace far beyond any human ship. Soldiers stalk the street with odd contraptions of metal that hiss steam giving every citizen that passes an inherent sense of comfort. Clocks whose hands are turned by the ceaseless flow of steam. Tools from the mind of a madman attempting to harness the power of boilers to ease the workload of the common man.
All were things you have dreamed a thousand times before, few of them grounded in the realities of your understanding of Engineering but still the glint of possibilities imagined made even your sleeping form smile. However, as the joyous dream begins to reach a peak the whole thing seems to crumble around you turning a smile to a frown as your mind conjures forth yet again the thing that brought you low…
What was your Fall? [] An Impatient Profit - You knew there were proper channels for that sort of thing. Correct roads to follow, forms to fill out, and professors approval to seek that would've been guaranteed if a work of months… But you were impatient. You needed funding now for your dream projects floundered under the burden of being a poor scholar. Merchants, mercenaries, soldiers, and Gods even the Roadwardens had came under your questioning.
In a mere few weeks you had a dozen deals running where you would supply them gunpowder and firearms for the coin you so desperately desired. It was an obscene profit for one from the streets like you, but before you got the chance to use it to further your research they had stormed your chambers. In truth disaster had been closely averted but your foolishness had endangered Imperial citizens and the college's interest both…
Gives Unsavory Merchant (Lose a die for any tests involving trade with reputable sources as you put forth an air of some kind of shady backstreet salesman. Any reputable major force in the Empire who knows who you are will refuse to buy from you entirely lest they anger the Imperial Engineers School. May attract a much more questionable clientele when selling goods.)
+15 Starting Wealth
+1 Business and Alchemy
+Expertise in Gunpowder, Matchlock, and Flintlock Crafting (Provides an additional die when making them)
[] An Insatiable Curiousity - It is a reasonable thing to segment the knowledge students of this craft can learn for who in their right mind would give someone in their first year the ability to make gunpowder? Such a thing sat poorly with you back then though. How could your intelligence compare to that of those around you? When they struggled to understand the basics of geometry you had already mastered it and gone beyond!
And so began that which would damn you: Nightly forays into the various restricted places throughout the college. You snuck into the restricted sections of libraries, broke into professor's personal offices, and even (the act that got you caught) into the most secure vaults beneath the school grounds in your pursuit of knowledge.
Gives Curiousity Killed the Cat (Your mind compels you to discover ever more knowledge whenever confronted with them thus putting you into dangerous situations. Require Soul tests to resist automatically locking in actions to acquire new knowledge.)
+1 to Stealth, Alchemy, Construction, Metallurgy, and Industry
[] Rightful Suspicion - (Unique Fall from your Origin) So much knowledge. So much that could be or needed to be made. Here where the Dawi could be seen intermixed with humans in a place of learning you have been confronted with a singular fact. Humans are fleeting existences. Fragile and easily broken, one wrong illness and a brilliant mind can be snuffed out while one failed experiment can erase another that might have changed the world.
Was it out of desperation? Or do you simply say that to soothe what little remains of a conscience after your decision? Whichever it was the Witch Hunters had been right when they stormed your lab, bound you, and burned it to the ground. You're not quite sure why they found no evidence… Even found proof to the contrary, but your presence was a stain upon the Sigmarite leaning college…
Gives The Price of Your Soul (Unlocks a vote next update to determine what boon exactly you've sold your soul to a Daemon for and the impact that will have. You are already on the Witch Hunters list to watch closely.)
+???
[] A Slayer's Oath - (Unique Fall from your Birth) Arrogance. Gramps had cautioned against it nearly every day for the years you found yourself in his care and yet, what child listens to their parents… Even adoptive ones? No one would know you assured yourself as you stole the craft of a Dawi once of Zhufbar. No one would notice you swore as you hid behind bookshelves and listened to some of the Dawi discuss Guild secrets. No one would care you promised as you stole blueprints and notes.
All in the name of furthering your dream and your desires until at last your growing understanding of things you should not have caused it all to click into place. It was only weeks after you were discovered that they kicked you from the school and only as you sat on the street in confusion that they told you… In a bid that saved you from the Grudges of all Dawi present Gramps had swore before all present you were Godrisdottir and swore the Slayer Oath for failing to raise you well.
Your mistakes and his would be washed away only in a glorious death…
Gives Godrisdottir (Gain an additional die when crafting or inventing anything. You are haunted by an Oath sworn. Any dwarf who discovers your past will view you with contempt and distrust.)
+Last name: Godrisdottir
+1 to Engineering, Inventing, and Metallurgy
+Begin with Guild Secrets about a random piece of advanced dwarfen engineering
[] The Nearly Heretical - (Unique Fall from your Dream) Is it the obsession or do you simply see what others don't? You remember the first time you saw a Steam Tank in action, sure Gramps had grumbled about the clumsy craft of Umgi hands, but even you could see the slight sparkle in his eyes. Only now do you realize you were looking at different things when yours sparkled just the same. Gramps had seen a promising weapon of war, and you?
You saw the gush of steam from pressure valves. You saw and something clicked into place as you realized the might of steam is something that approaches the Divine. Not simply destruction but heat and force in a deceptive but deadly force. It was the might of Gods unharnessed and as years passed you became more certain… And more vocal of this. Until at last you were drug before a tribunal at the hands of Sigmarites. Ultimately even the Witch Hunters cleared you of suspicion but the damage was done.
Gives Believer of Steam (Steam Obsessed is upgraded to this. Bonus and penalty increase to two dice. You are fanatical about the wonders of Steam and certain that it touches upon the realm of Gods as you gladly try to spread your beliefs. Will cause tension with many religious groups.)
Start with the ability to create Aeolipiles
+1 Engineering, Alchemy, Oration, and Construction
Name:Margaret Age:16
Wealth:2
Attributes and Skills:
Body - 2 Mind - 2
Engineering 2
Alchemy 1
Inventing 2
Soul - 2
Traits: Student of Innovation - Gain an additional die when working on any engineering that is odd, experimental, or cutting edge. Steam Obsessed - Gain a bonus die on any project involving the creation or use of steam power. Lose a bonus die when working with alternative power sources for what could compare to the marvel of a boiler? You are unsettled by the absence of steam powered machinery. Accidents Happen - On failing an engineering test with something new or experimental there is a 50% chance of an accident occurring. Brilliant Mind- Provides an additional die when learning any new skill, halves chance of accidents.
[X] The Nearly Heretical - (Unique Fall from your Dream) Is it the obsession or do you simply see what others don't? You remember the first time you saw a Steam Tank in action, sure Gramps had grumbled about the clumsy craft of Umgi hands, but even you could see the slight sparkle in his eyes. Only now do you realize you were looking at different things when yours sparkled just the same. Gramps had seen a promising weapon of war, and you?
worshiping the steam sound fun and a fun twist on it
Right then. [X] The Nearly Heretical
I'm voting for this because A: we might someday get magi-tech steam engines and B: Insatiable Curiosity would probably have us having to constantly resist stealing from Dwarf Engineers (knowledge beyond human scientists etc? Catnip for that Margaret).
Edit:
Also it's the only path where I can see us keeping a semi-good relationship with Godri in the long run. 'Merchant' would have us working with outlaws and such (shameful for him), I already pointed out the issues with Curiosity and Suspicion would have him putting an axe through our skull.
[X] The Nearly Heretical
frankly this seems like the best idea, the fact that we are in fact not actually guilty of any crime, is interesting and really lends itself to the mad scientist tropes of I WILL SHOW THEM ALL.
