Freelance Traveller

Reliquary

by Nick Walker

This article originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of the downloadable magazine.

Required Skills: None
Required Equipment: Starship, other than a Type S

The players are approached by a bishop of the local church (suitable religions from BITS’ 101 Religions include the Church of Secular Saints and Martyrs, the Restored Canon Church of Sylea, the Church of Velis, or the Church of Sylea). On a nearby world a new church is being built. Before the altar can be consecrated, a saint’s relic must be placed within it. The bishop requires passage for himself and his six acolytes as well as four displacement tons of hold space (a reliquary containing the bones of a saint, which must be carried to the new church). The bishop wants the players to act as an escort on the destination world, as well.

The reliquary needs four people to carry it. It is a coffin-shaped wooden box worked with intaglio and inset with gems and plaques showing scenes from the life of the saint, with a crystal top revealing the Bones of the Saint. It is covered with a silk canopy which has been very heavily embroidered with silver and gold thread. In materials alone the reliquary is worth Cr100,000.

The religion’s faithful—including the bishop and acolytes—believe that only true believers may touch or carry the reliquary without incurring divine disfavor.

Possible Directions

1. A criminal gang have learned about the reliquary, and attempt to steal it, and either sell it or ransom it back to the church.
2. Several of the acolytes fall ill on the voyage and the crew need to help transport the reliquary to the new church.
3. One of the acolytes is a follower of a rival bishop and wishes to delay and discredit the bishop and his relic.
4. The church is not welcome by all on the destination world, and protesters gather and try to stop the delivery of the relics; true believers organize counter demonstrations.
5. It will take a week to carry the reliquary from the starport to the site of the new church and all of the events above happen during the journey.
6. The entire thing is a fake and is being used by a terrorist organization to smuggle bombs onto the world.

All other details are to be decided by the referee