Edgar “Magic Hands” Mulligan
Edgar is a scraver of the Fading Suns gaming system.
Character Q&A
- What planet is your character from?
Edgar was born aboard a freight ship and hasn’t spent enough time on any given planet to claim it as his home world.
- How would you describe your character?
Edgar “Magic Hands” Mulligan is a directionless space jockey. He flies by the seat of his pants and lives for the moment. While somewhat careless at times, Edgar’s outlook is nonetheless positive.
- Does your character have any recurring mannersisms?
Edgar has the occassional habit of laughing at inappropriate times or seeming mentally distracted. This is actually due to the constant stream of radio transmissions he receives from his Ether Ear.
- What is your Hero’s main motivation?
Edgar lives for the present, focusing on day-to-day affairs with little regard for the big picture or the long term. He drifts from one whim to the next in search of excitement.
- What is your Hero’s greatest strength? Greatest weakness?
Edgar is an able individual; he adapts well to new situations and approaches every problem with confidence and flair. However, his lack of conviction makes him a wild card at best, reliable only in the short term.
- What are your Hero’s most and least favorite things?
Edgar views Terran cuisine, especially pizza, as a great delicacy. Vorox, on the other hand, give him the “willies.”
- What about your Hero’s psychology?
Edgar’s lack of a female role model has left him out of touch with his real feelings. He’s arrogant and gung-hoe, but comes away from most of his endeavors with a strange emptiness. Romance of any sort makes him feel uncomfortable and out of place, but is ultimately Edgar’s only road to true happiness.
- What is your Hero’s single greatest fear?
Worse than an eternal deep-freeze in the Void or any alien monstrosity, Edgar fears being captured by the Inquisition. He can imagine no greater torment than being tortured and picked apart until revealing the names of every loved-one, friend, and confidant for the same treatment.
- What are your Hero’s highest ambitions? His greatest love?
Edgar is in love with his job. He values the freedom, the challenge, and the payoff equally, and cannot conceive of himself in another line of work. He dreams of being the captain of his own salvage ship one day.
- What is your Hero’s opinion of his/her ruling House?
Just as Edgar fails to claim a planet as his home, the same goes for the noble houses.
- Does your Hero have any prejudices?
Edgar has a strong dislike for priests and other Church-oriented people, both for their individual closed-mindedness and for their infringement on the masses.
- Where do your Hero’s loyalties lie?
Edgar has a few people he knows and trusts. His retired father, Elliot “Bannockburn” Mulligan, is chiefest, followed closely by Captain Charles Vernier, with whom Edgar has gone on many voyages. He also has a number of lesser confidants, with whom he has a relative degree of understanding and trust.
- Is your Hero in love? Is he married or betrothed?
Much as one would expect with Edgar’s emotional difficulties, he has no romantic interests of which to speak.
- What about your Hero’s family?
Edgar’s mother died several weeks after he was born due to an infection during birth. He blames the Church for her death; officials refused to allow the freight ship to land under suspicion of smuggling. The charges were dropped, but not before Edgar’s mother succumbed to the infection. Edgar’s father retired from the Scravers some years later, leaving his only son to carry on the family trade. Edgar has no other family of which to speak, save for Captain Vernier who he considers something of an older brother.
- How would your Hero’s parents describe him?
Edgar was the apple of his mother’s eye for the short period she knew him before her untimely death. She adored him as all mothers do of their newborns, although she never came to know the man he became. Edgar’s father couldn’t be prouder to have a stalwart son following in his footsteps.
- Is your Hero a gentleman or gentlewoman? Or a scoundrel?
As a Scraver, Edgar leans much more toward the seedy side of the spectrum. He has no use for the pleasantries of sophistication, never having enjoyed them in his youth. Just because he’s a bit crude, however, doesn’t make him deplorable. Edgar draws the line at very immoral crimes, such as murder, larceny, and rape. To Edgar, there is a certain honor in breaking the law just a little.
- How religious is your Hero? What sect of the Church does he follow?
Edgar hates the Church and all of its teachings for numerous reasons. He doesn’t usually consider such weighty matters as divinity or the afterlife, and when he does he usually just pleads ignorance.
- Is your Hero a member of a guild, knightly order, or secret society?
Edgar is a card-carrying member of the Scravers Guild, although he only works as a free agent.
- What does your Hero think of Technology?
Edgar loves technology; it is a part of him and all that he does.
- If you could, what advice would you give your Hero?
Edgar needs to examine his life on a deeper level to understand what he really wants. At times, his life seems genuinely unfulfilling because he fails to pursue it correctly. He needs to find a sense of purpose and emotional belonging to be truly happy.
- How do you (the player) want this character to die?
Edgar, by his very nature, is not the sacrificial sort. However, I would personally like to see his character development culminate in one final, heroic act, possibly averting some great catastrophe and saving countless innocents. It would also be a plus if the act struck a blow for the Scravers and the power of science over faith.
- How did Edgar get his implants?
Due to the unfavorable conditions of his birth, Edgar received neurological trauma that led to retardation. His father, not wanting his son to be impaired throughout life, exhausted his life savings on Edgar’s Think Machine. The Ether Ear was a later addition to aid in Edgar’s line of work. The ability to intercept information and pass it along for a price is an invaluable trait for almost any Scraver.
- What does Edgar think of the Beyond? Void Krakens?
Edgar has no particular fear of the Beyond. He certainly doesn’t believe the Church’s lies about demons, although he professes personal ignorance on the matter. Edgar’s eyebrow inevitably pirks up at the mention of Void Krakens; for the most part, he considers them a superstition touted by aging sailors to get attention.
Backstory
Edgar was born 26 years ago aboard the freight ship Bannock to Elliot and Cynthia Mulligan. Elliot was the ship’s engineer and had arranged to transport his wife to Shaprut so their baby could be born under proper medical care. All was moving according to schedule when the Inquisition refused to allow the ship to land under suspicion of smuggling. The unarmed Bannock had no choice but to orbit the planet helplessly as Cynthia went into labor.
The delivery was a difficult one. The crew of the Bannock tried their hardest to make sure things ran smoothly, but the cramped, filthy conditions made that all but impossible. Many hours passed until Edgar finally emerged into the universe. The new parents wept for joy, but their happiness soon faded. As the crew had feared, Cynthia contracted a fatal infection and died several days later. She passed away with Edgar in her arms.
Elliot was heart-broken and furious with the Inquisition. Praying to the Pancreator that his son would not meet a similar fate, he flew to Criticorum and took Edgar to a noble’s physician. “I’m afraid your son has severe brain damage,” the doctor told him, and Elliot felt as if his life was over.
“I won’t let the Inquisition do this, too,” Elliot vowed. “Not to my son.” Life savings in hand, Elliot rushed to an old friend for help. Where medicine had failed in preserving Edgar’s intellect, technology succeeded. Edgar was fitted with a high-tech Think Machine that replaced the brain function he had lost.
A decade passed and Elliot retired to Madoc. His son, however, longed to return to space, the only home he’d ever known. When he reached the age of 14, the Scravers Guild finally took him in. His father was a little concerned but pleased nonetheless; he had hoped his son would take up the family trade. With a tearful goodbye and a promise to come back and visit, Edgar ventured back into space.
Edgar has now spent half of his life as a Scraver. The job has been hazardous and inconsistent, or, as Edgar would say, “one big adventure.” He’s learned a lot and gained a lot. In his travels he’s visited alien planets (Vorox give him “the willies”), recovered ancient treasures (e.g. “Lit’l Boomer”), and made a few friends (e.g. Captain Vernier). He’s a space jockey, never staying in the same place long, always looking for excitement, adventure, and not a few firebirds to boot.
Typical Quotes:
“Hey Orty!” – To Sir Javier Ortega d’ Aragon of the Hazat
“How much you think that is worth…?” – To anybody
“By the Pancreator who the hell let Her near the Engine Room?!?” – To the Pancreator