The Crew: Fleet Archetypes and their Roles
Author's Note: The visuals in this article are under construction, and will be completed in the near future. The Fleet keys in the "Archetypes" section incorporate glass-cabochon dragon eyes, which some readers may find creepy and wish to avoid.
As inter-real travel left the realm of theory and began to be put into practice, it became apparent that different crew members developed different abilities when they spent enough time out in the chaos of the void's unreality. While even the more powerful talents fell short of what the psions could do, and the pilots with their artefacts still shouldered a huge portion of the burden, crew members who changed in response to the void's chaos could still do some nifty tricks and fill important roles for the Fleet.
While they occasionally developed mild proficiencies in more than one category, most only ever manifested the one signature ability of what would then be known as their Fleet Archetype.
Archetypes:
The Element's navigating key, generally considered the creepiest key in the entire Fleet. Its power prefers individuals of the Fang archetype.
Fang
Ambitious and active, Fangs perceive nearby people of ill-intent and will react with animalistically fast reflexes to incoming harm, sometimes saving themselves or others by doing so.
Juan is a Fang. He is perceptive and quick, and arrives easily at judgments. He prefers to act on what he sees--though, because he is a smart Fang, he will delay if it puts him in position to make a more effective move. He recently saved a fellow crew member by knocking them to the deck and throat-punching the person who was about to knife them. He later expressed distaste for the entire situation, and criticized the person-in-charge for putting them in danger in the first place.
Fangs have a reputation for keeping their intentions close to the chest, and Juan lives up to it, venting only to a few close friends, and not considering himself above trickery or deception if the situation calls for it. Because he is, for the most part, an example of a good(-ish) Fang, he turns his talents to bettering situations for the people around him. However, his interpersonal style is still confrontational, and people can find him intimidating. Evil Fangs lean even more into intimidation, and may harm others indiscriminately or resort to coercive tactics to achieve their goals.
Scale
Alternately protective and defensive, Scales can mitigate harm to their crewmates by either deflecting it back onto the aggressor or accepting some of it themselves.
Deverick is a Scale. He may deflect with humor, refuse to act like he is taking a threat seriously, or trick people into revealing their prejudices or intentions by pretending to agree with them. He recently protected a crewmate who would have broken an arm in a fall by dashing as close as he could and psionically pulling some of the damage into his own arm. They both shouted and ended up with similar forearm bruises, but neither broke anything. Deverick proceeded to demand to know what in Artemisia his crewmate had been thinking trying to climb that, had he been sleeping enough recently, and so on. (It is worth noting that while Deverick is not afraid to take a hit for someone else, there is no guarantee he won't call them a dumbass afterwards).
Deverick is mostly a good-aligned Scale, so while he has the defensive anger common to many, it is largely provoked by harm to others and he generally lets it motivate him to help the bullied. Evil Scales can grow to feel used, and get so angry that they lash out indiscriminately and become bullies themselves, verbally or otherwise.
The psi-focus sometimes used by the man with the glowing dragon, who was originally of the Scale archetype.
Charl Wikhtori's compass, which they charge at psionic ships between journeys. It is very rarely this highly polished. They use it on their expeditions as a Wing.
Wing
But why can't we? Did you even think of trying the shuttle there? You never try to think of something!
Dynamic and curious, Wings can travel all sorts of ways that people normally can't, including into pocket universes and across the Dreaming Void with no ship protecting them. In time, they develop the ability to take a companion or two with them.
Charl Wikhtori is a Wing. They see limits as a horizon to be widened, and have no patience for rules that don't make sense to them. When a settlement came under attack by a gargantuan void denizen, they were able to save Sylvia and her daughter by grabbing their hands and psychoporting all three of them into hiding in a nearby void dream.
Like many Wings, Charl needs the stimulation of learning and experiencing that which is new to them. They and the others of their archetype are innately hopeful, in that even their deepest frustrations are fueled by faith that somewhere, somehow, there really is a solution. Being a mostly good-aligned Wing, Charl turns their obsessions to creating tech that will help Artemisia adapt to their new reality, and they are well-disposed enough towards people not to treat them unethically in pursuit of solutions. An evil Wing might bail unexpectedly, or might take harmful shortcuts or exploit people to find their desired solution. Worse, they may even do so just to alleviate their boredom.
Eye
Risk-averse and protective, Eyes can invest time to make a ship or other location they choose into a small fortress that is largely invisible to void denizens and impervious to outside hazards.
Sylvia is an Eye. She has transformed her ship, the Sanctuary, into exactly that--a safe place that the telepath's main organization can hole up in. It has become so stable that even in the event of loss of the pilot--a potentially existential threat to all other vessels in the Fleet--the Sanctuary could free-float in the void for ages until a suitable replacement was found.
Sylvia is capable of great fortitude in spite of her naturally anxious and pessimistic nature. She anticipates danger before it shows up, sometimes even correctly. However, if Eyes have a flaw, it is rigidity--and sometimes Sylvia is so invested in the story she tells herself about the world that she sees what she expects to see in others and misses what is actually there. At their worst, Eyes can try too hard to secure their loved ones and resort to manipulation to protect them from natural change.
Breath
Nurturing and comforting, Breaths can bring their crewmates back to center when they start spinning up, which may not sound like much until the pilot panics and sends the lights flickering and making terrible noises. At that point, a Breath that can step in and give the person holding the ship together an emotional reset is the most important crew member aboard.
Robbie is a Breath. Slow to get angry himself, and slow to act on his anger when he gets there, Robbie can listen and empathize while still letting people know when he thinks they're making bad decisions. Recently, Robbie helped a substantially injured crewmate by getting him to stop thinking about how frightening the situation was, and realize that what he really wanted was for it to be fixed, which meant getting up and walking back to the ship. They both made it aboard safely.
Like most Breaths, Robbie has very little investment in trying to make others be the people he wants them to be--he does, however, want to see them become people they are happy with. Being a good Breath, Robbie has little respect for people harming each other and will try to help the injured pick up the pieces and grow stronger.
As on more conventional ships, void ships on the Fleet assign individual members to specific roles with specific jobs to do. That way, when an emergency strikes, there is always a designated person to take care of it, and no one ends up trying to do two or more tasks poorly. Some major roles on the Fleet include:
Pilot
Archetype: Any
The ones who generate the ship and--with the aid of neurals and the Keys--psychoport them through multiple areas on long voyages.
Backup Pilot
Archetype: Any
People who do not possess the ship's navigating key, but do possess another key and have agreed ahead of time that they will accept the ship and the associated risks and responsibilities should the regular pilot become incapacitated. They have learned some of the overall concepts of piloting, but have to count on the navigating key depositing piloting skills into their memory when it transfers the ship to them.
Adjunct
Archetype: Any
These crew members have the knack for working with the void that would allow them to potentially become pilots. Not having the burden of the main ship to contend with--or being on the hook for it if the pilot is lost--they can step in and provide support for the pilot during certain complex maneuvers. At times when they are needed, the pilot can power them up by opening a temporary (and usually quite weak) psionic channel between the adjunct and the key's power. The adjunct can then contribute a second imagination and mind to whatever the ship currently needs to achieve. Sometimes adjuncts do no more than provide extra brain circuitry when the void is demanding a lot of the pilot. At other times, they have taken care of systems that require a great deal of independent focus, like defensive weapons and shields when a void denizen is about.
The Head
Archetype: Often Fang or Eye
This is the person who makes decisions while the pilot is deep in piloting. They officially call up other crew members to their posts or tell them to stand down, and decide whether to fight or flee when there is a hazard. They are also responsible for maintaining essential communications to and from the pilot when the door is closed, and for filtering out anything unnecessary that would eat up the pilot's precious attention.
Explorers
Archetype: Wing
These are very unusual crew members, but considered extremely valuable. They are people who--within limits--can travel independently of a vessel. They were vital in the very early, exploratory stages of the Fleet, when courses were first being plotted, as they could quickly change locations, dart out ahead of vessels and--through trial and error--identify a way through to different places. Their skills are still needed in the parts of the Fleet that are trying to locate the epicenter of the cataclysm. Their job is, of course, also considered insanely dangerous, as they can run into void hazards with no more than their wits to help them. Finally, they are the only known crew members who can retrieve a pilot from the key's failsafe pocket universe.
Vigilant
Archetype: Any
The people on every crew who keep watch for hazards and disurbances in the Dreaming Void while the ship is travelling. These crew members have a talent for sensing changes in the void outside, and may realize there is a problem in the middle of a conversation, while not so much as looking through a window. When a Vigilant states that there is an issue, it is immediately communicated to the Head that there is something to investigate, and the Vigilant goes and does so, keeping open communication the entire time with the Head, who may call up an Adjunct or two to deal with the hazard depending on its severity. This happens largely independently of the pilot, so they can focus on keeping the ship moving and extant.
Surveillant
Archetype: Any, though Eyes are common
These are the crew members who, rather than being more sensitive than usual to the state of the void, are able to glimpse what is going on in the real places that the ship draws near. Their job is to check and see--among other things--whether there are people nearby if crew members need to go on land, what the environmental conditions are, and how dangerous it would be, generally, to be identified as a telepath by the people who live there. They have also been known to discover additional real-world places that butt up against the route currently being travelled, when they sense real-world events going on nearby.
Characters of Each Archetype:
Pilots
- Deverick
- Alexandria
- Jerarr Moz
- "Laser Eyes" Leo
- Rhonda
Backup Pilots
- Robbie
Adjuncts
- Juan
Heads
- Sylvia
- Bernard
Explorers
- Charl Wikhtori
- spoiler for novel
Bernadette
Vigilants
- within limits, Juan
Surveillants
- In a pinch, Sylvia
Comments