Corin Ash

Dhoran Face. Coreworlder. The one who talks first.

Corin Ash wears good clothes, carries a name that may not be original, and has the particular stillness of someone who has learned to let other people fill silence. He is patient, professionally warm, and difficult to read. The crew trusts him because he has never once let the crew down in a social situation, and because the one time someone asked directly about his past, he gave a detailed and entirely plausible answer that explained nothing at all.

Hook: Someone at Port Meridian has just addressed Corin by the first of his three names.

All characteristics start at 2. Free adjustment: Charisma +1, Agility −1. Charisma then bought to 4.

Wounds (12): ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Strain (12): ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Skills

Untrained, Leadership rolls 4 Ability Dice (Charisma 4). Intimidation uses Willpower and rolls 2.

Profession skills (Coreworlder and Face): Lore, Negotiation, Leadership, Deception, Charm, Intimidation.

Species Package

Dhoran: Dense Frame, Impact Tolerance, Hard to Shift, Slow Acceleration, Heavy Requirements, and the Dhoran gravity line (every band one band better; 1 Bane Die to precision movement in Low gravity).

Talents

• Border Savvy (Tier 1, free starting talent): remove 1 Bane Die from Deception, Negotiation, or Streetwise checks to pass a checkpoint, avoid a customs search, or get through bureaucratic scrutiny.
• Silver Words (Tier 2): when he succeeds on a Negotiation or Charm check with 2 or more Boons, he may spend them to leave a lasting positive impression; the NPC will not work against him without additional cause.
• Controlled Presence (Tier 2): add 1 Boon Die to Leadership or Negotiation checks where staying calm under provocation matters, and remove 1 Bane Die from Readiness or Willpower checks to resist social baiting.

Attacks

Hold-out pistol: (Agility 1, Ranged 0), Damage 4, Crit 4, Short, Ballistic, Concealable 2, Limited Ammo 3. He carries it to get through a search, and he loses most gunfights.

XP Spent

Starting XP 105. XP carried forward: 0 XP.

Gear

• Starting kit: good clothing, personal communicator, emergency rations for three days.
• Face profession kit: encrypted comm unit, personal datapad.
• Bought: Mesh undersuit (400cr), Hold-out pistol (200cr).
• Starting credits: 1,250cr; spent 600cr; left 650cr.

The mesh undersuit is armor with Concealable 2, rated for his mass. He keeps the remaining credits for fees, fines, and the occasional bribe (Player's Guide, Chapter Nine, What a Credit Is Worth).

Languages: Standard and Antaean (Coreworlder background).

Background

Corin has worked under three different names in two different powers over the past decade. He is not a criminal in any active sense: no outstanding warrants, no open debts, no contracts he has broken with violence. He simply departed a situation in a city he does not name, took a name that suited the work better, and rebuilt from there. He is good at what he does. He likes the crew. He is quietly uncertain whether he deserves to. The right question, asked at the right moment, would open something, but he has not found anyone willing to ask it right yet.

Playing Corin in Dead Drop at Harrowspan

Corin handles first contact. When the crew meets someone new (Inspector Oll, station staff, Sev, anyone with information), put him in front: Negotiation, Deception, and Charm are his best pools. Border Savvy removes a Bane Die when he talks the crew through a checkpoint, a customs search, or bureaucratic scrutiny, which is exactly what Oll's inspection is. Silver Words rewards building relationships across the adventure rather than just getting past gatekeepers, and Controlled Presence keeps him steady when Sev or Oll pushes.

In Scene Five he holds no station and acts as captain, using Direct Focus each round. Keep him out of a firefight's opening seconds: his Initiative pools are weak, his Agility is 1, and he has no Perception training.