Freelance Traveller

Brno Kinsmor

profiled by Timothy Collinson

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2020 issue.

Brno Kinsmor 759CB7 Age 26
Characteristics: STR 6 (+0), DEX 5 (-1), END 9 (+1), INT 12 (+2), EDU A (+1), SOC 7 (+0)
Skills: Profession (librarian) 2, Admin 1, JoT 1, Streetwise 1, Art 0, Drive 0, Language 0
Connections: 3 Allies, 1 Contact

Kinsmor was born on Tikav (Gushemege 1426 B563867-A) but grew up on Acadie (Reft 2225 C868563-9). His father was a mid-ranking Imperial Navy officer and away from home on deployment for long stretches. Kinsmor’s secondary education was in a small, single-sex boarding school where he led an undistinguished academic existence but formed a friendship with Arape Uza which has endured to this day. It was during that time that the Imperial Starship Nasirnak visited a starport close to home and he toured this unusual ship run by Operation Good Word. [See “The I/S Nasirnak Book Ship and Pasteur-class Hospital Ship”] Kinsmor was intrigued enough to think that one day he would be interested in joining Nasirnak’s crew.

When he was 16, his parents were attending a conference at new year which gathered former navy officers and crew. One of the invited speakers was a former Line officer who had served in the Navy and gone on to spend several years as an astrogation officer on the I/S Nasirnak, writing a popular book about his experiences. After listening to the talk, picking up a copy of the book, and taking the opportunity to speak with the astrogator, Kinsmor was convinced that he would be more than interested in signing up for one of the four year volunteer service opportunities that existed.

Schooling, followed by a year in the Aslan Hierate as a Galanglic and Astrography teacher in an Imperial culture school, came first, however. In addition, Kinsmor spent three further years at University studying library science – although friends have often teased him about shattering any stereotypes of librarians being quiet types. During the summer before his final year he spent a month with an OGW team on St Denis (Reft 2423 D735764-7) as part of their training, promotion and outreach. That experience tempted him to quit university there and then but common sense prevailed and it wasn’t until he actually graduated that he applied for a place on the vessel and was accepted.

Kinsmor joined the ship at the starport on Tobia (Trojan Reach 3215 A544A55-F) before it set off on a voyage to the polities and worlds of Foreven Sector. Working as crew for his first couple of years, then rotated to be a receptionist for a year, and finally as an assistant to the on-board dentist for his final year, Kinsmor was fully involved with many aspects of the starship and its service picking up a wide variety of abilities, a smattering of various languages and a love for meeting new cultures and new friends wherever they might come from in Charted Space. Twice a year he would be assigned to a small ‘shore’ team who would spend a week or two in extremely out of the way places on worlds the ship was visiting to further the reach of the ship’s mission and to provide additional training.

It’s been a term of travel, new cultures and languages, friendship making and service that Kinsmor will never look back from as he returns home to a more settled life. Or perhaps further adventure?

Adventure Seeds

1. Kinsmor needs to travel home after his term on the Imperial Starship Nasirnak. He’ll turn his hand to anything required of him although he doesn’t necessarily have a lot of skill. He’s full of the last few years and has an endless fund of anecdotes; possibly to the point of irritation of those around him.
2. Kinsmor has managed to miss the starship Jumping out of port, “it’s a long story” he says, and now needs to catch up with its next known destination which is almost certainly off the beaten track.
3. On his journey home, Kinsmor has paused for a few weeks on one world where he’s found employment organizing the papers of a recently deceased noble who was an avid collector/small monastery with a chaotic library/old school with an extensive basement. He’s stumbled across some ancient computer file or dusty tome which contains information about a potential Ancient device/Rule of Man equipment cache/vanished navy pay ship. He’s looking for a crew who is willing to share with him any profit in exchange for transport and aiding him in exploration.
4. The Nasirnak is in port and Kinsmor, along with a team of a dozen or so crew, need to be shipped out to a small rock in a planetoid belt where they’ll be working away from the ship for a fortnight. They’ve got a lot of gear, but are on a really tight budget as it’s a charity. Could the PCs squeeze them in as their good deed for the day? On arrival, the PCs and the Nasirnak crew are feted as wonders to the people of this out-of-the-way place that doesn’t see many visitors.
5. As 4 but the PCs happen to be calling at the rock a few days into the Nasirnak team’s stay. The team are being led by a first officer from the Nasirnak who is something of a workaholic. Worse yet, the programme that has been arranged for the team for their stay (school visits, charity talks, compassion/aid jobs has been arranged by a former first officer who was also something of a workaholic. Between the two, the team are at their wits’ end for stress and tiredness. The PCs may be shipping out ‘reserve’ crew to help out (a first for this volunteer ship) or they may choose to get involved themselves – either having words with the first officer or simply lending a hand to fellow travellers.
6. The PCs’ vessel has run into difficulties and the Nasirnak is first on scene to render assistance – perhaps the damage to the ship is so great the PCs need to be evacuated and return with repair/rescue tugs. On this occasion the Nasirnak is run by a religious organization with 350 fervent believers who see this as an ideal opportunity to share their beliefs, and the miracle of their rescue!