Influential Persons

From the Bureau of Records: Public Intelligence/Persons

Imagining its signature whirlwind of stars, you soar to the Bureau of Records Constellation. As you look closer you can see that every spire of light from each star divides into innumerable branches and sub-branches.

Bureau Announcer: Thank you for accessing the Bureau Constellation: your universal Star Net resource. Select a star by colour and use your strand’s ghost hand to find the appropriate mote, or think of images that suggest the resource you desire and subvocalize the word “Find.” For literate visitors, we recommend text access to for rapid navigation and use. Summon two ghost hands to trigger the access slate.

You call the slate. In the Star Net, the hands of an insubstantial soul write the words you imagine.

You have selected Persons in Casual Narrative Summary Mode. Please note that the Bureau Act removes all liability for defamation, inaccuracy or the consequences thereof with respect to Bureau resources on persons, but third party users are not so protected.

Bartholomew Deth

Also Known As: Black Bart, the Scourge

Allegiance: Black Fleet

Occupation: Pirate Captain and Commander, Black Fleet

Home System: Unknown

Base of Operations: Various; the dreadnought Croe’s Tomb is presumed to be Deth’s primary residence and headquarters.

Bartholomew Deth (birth date unknown) is the presumed leader of the Black Fleet pirate organization. As a suspect in 5,731 offences and a person of interest in 12,950 others, Deth is the most wanted fugitive from Archonate justice.

Biography: Intelligence archives indicate that from 1552 until 1575 Bartholomew Deth acted an independent arms runner for belligerent parties in the Second War, criminals and ad hoc militia groups. By 1575, Deth’s activities had earned him a considerable fortune, and the enmity of multiple factions. That year, a Tyrant fleet battle group attacked his ship in the Croe system, forcing it into the sun. Deth was presumed dead and his assets were seized by authorities.

This assessment proved to be in error. Archonate intelligence sources report that in 1635, Bartholomew Deth reappeared in a custom dreadnought-class vessel known as Croe’s Tomb. Deth used this vessel to destroy or force allegiance from independent pirates operating in developing systems. These alliances created the core of the Black Fleet.

Archonate Intelligence classified Deth as a tertiary criminal threat until 1638/2/29, when he led the Black Fleet’s raid on Tuldekath. During the raid, eyewitnesses allege that Bartholomew Deth murdered Star Court Speaker Alice Chant.

From 1638 to the present, the Black Fleet is believed to be responsible for attacks on 60 systems, the destruction of 170 ships and the murder of at least 5000 people for the purpose of soul trafficking. Evidence suggests that Deth was in direct command of the Black Fleet for the majority of these reported attacks.

On 1641/3/12 the Archonate Hammer Initiative passed into law in response to Black Fleet attacks. Under the law, the Star Court commissioned the Hunter Fleet to protect worlds from pirate attacks, neutralize the Black Fleet and terminate Bartholomew Deth’s command.

Behavioural Narrative: Profilers have characterized Deth’s actions as signs of an “irrational hatred” for civilized institutions. Deth is believed to be a psychopath who uses a personal ideology for self-justification. In this belief system, dependence on the rule of law indicates weakness and confers upon Deth the moral right to “prey upon” the “sheep” so governed.

Black Fleet operations appear to support this theory. Deth directs attacks against major commercial centers instead of isolated vessels and the other lightly guarded targets preferred by most pirates. The Black Fleet usually ignores offers of parley, destroys civil infrastructures and concentrates on acquiring souls over material goods. Independent analysts from the Golden Crown and Star Travellers have theorized that beyond ideological concerns, these actions spring from the Black Fleet’s logistical needs, as the existence of Croe’s Tomb and other observed signs indicate that Deth has access to advanced military grade runecraft.

Appearance: You have chosen a narrative description. Would you prefer an image? According to most accounts, Bartholomew’s appearance belies his cruel nature. He’s a tall man with soft features and white feathered wings. Bartholomew doesn’t age; he looks exactly as he did a century ago. He acts in a polite, genteel manner. Early in his pirating career, a few victims mistook him for their saviour, right before he cut them down. In recent years, his appearance has been engraved on Roaa’s collective consciousness, so no one will make that mistake again.

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As the developer, “Black Bart” is one of the NPCs I like the most. He “pulls the trigger” that brings Knights of the Hidden Sun up to its current year, 1650. Chapter Two features a bunch of these “mover and shaker” NPCs. One of the great things about Chris’ setting is that it feels inhabited, the result of both mass movements and forceful personalities, to the point where there are a bunch of unstable points you can easily jump from to generate an adventure. Out of the other games I’ve worked on, Exalted comes closest to having a similar quality. You can see where things might go, but it’s not where they have to go. (Actually, KotHS probably doesn’t have as much in the way of strongly implied future events.)

I think Chris also created Bartholomew Deth to send an impression about the nature of the game, putting it firmly in the territory of space opera instead of making speculation on the fantasy world the focus. The Scourge of Roaa does trigger a bunch of political and military events leading up to 1650, when your Knights enter the scene, but this isn’t at the expense of the imagery of an angel of death who flies a stone coffin through space to steal souls. That’s awesome, and Knights should inspire imagery to match.

NPCs are just one chunk of Chapter Two, right at the end. They’re part a thorough snapshot of where Roaa is at our assumed current date of 1650. Like Chapter One, we’re doing it through in-character documents, so that the GM can easily tell a player that her character knows exactly what’s in a given hunk of text. Out of character asides provide a less subjective commentary. As the developer, I edited and embellished the text to place more of it in the world. I’ve also elaborated on some sights and sounds to get people inside Roaa.

Anyway, now it’s time for game systems, where I’ll inspect text about supersonic hand to hand combat, the secrets of the Knights of the Hidden Sun and the runes their Goddess inscribes on their souls.

Tags: Knights of the Hidden Sun