Freelance Traveller

Soren Kjellgaard

profiled by Richard Crowley

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2014 issue.

Traveller: The New Era stats:

Soren Kjellgaard C329970-0-5
(Wet) Navy Commander, 4 terms
Homeworld: Czerniak (Jayna/Old Expanses 1118)
UWP (1105): A9899C8-C S Ag In Hi Ri
UWP (1200): A9899C8-8 Ag In Hi Ri
Acrobatics 2/14, Ground Vehicle 2/4, Pilot (fixed wing) 2/4, Armed Martial Arts (small blade) 2/14, Slug Pistol 2, Large Water craft 3/12, Forward Observer 1/10, Electronics 2/11, Leadership 1/1, Tac Missile 1/3, Energy Artillery 1/3
Armed Martial Arts(Large Blade) 1/13

GURPS Traveller stats:

ST 14; DX 8; IQ 9; HT 7; Charisma 10; Status 1
Courtesy Rank: 5 [5]
Primary Skills: Guns/6 pistol 4, Seamanship 8, Leadership 2, Gunner/6 (Missile) 2, Gunner/6 (Beam) 2,
Secondary Skills: Broadsword 2, Forward Observer/6 2, Electronics/6 (Comm) 4
Background Skills: Acrobatics 4, driving (Automobile) 4, Piloting (light airplane) 4, Knife 4
Advantages: Combat reflexes [15], Status 1 [5]
Disadvantages: Code of honor (Naval Officer) [-5], Honesty [-10], Intolerance (Reformation Coalition) [-5], Stubbornness -[5]

The Wet Navy on Czerniak (1118 Jayna) has been well regarded for its high tech accommodations, integrated naval tactics and the high quality leadership that kept the rich industrial world free from crime, invasion and political uprisings. In fact, it could easily be said that the Navy served the government in repressing public discontent in all layers of society.

Thus, it was natural for the young, weak and clumsy Soren Kjellgaard to dream of an adulthood as a naval hero, saving his people from an invisible malice. Unfortunately, during his young life, he saw Czerniak systematically ravaged by Virus. The great Navy that once protected the empire now struggled to keep several fleet groups together at one time. It was time for a hero. Soren has spent his adult life in pursuit of a great dream: to retain the once-strong government of Czerniak and establish a society worthy of a high population world. At a time when the tech level of Czerniak was blasted back to the industrial age, the planetary Navy needed reorganization and Soren was the one to do it. Using his high level of education along with his innate skills in Leadership and military tactics, he managed to scrape out a career that led him to the upper echelons of the Wet Navy while rebuilding the planet and sustaining the people that he loved. Soren considers himself to be an enemy of the Reformation Coalition still thinking that Czerniak is culturally super to other systems in the Old Expanses.

In the thinking of Cmdr Kjellgaard, Virus is the ultimate enemy of his people and also the Czerniak, to him, was and is the home of the most advanced and healthful societies rimward of the old Imperium. Soren should be a good addition to any crew or planet-bound band of adventurers. He is highly intelligent, possessed of great combat skills and fully versed in nearly every form of planetary transportation in existence on Czerniak. A TNE crew might come across him at a starport selling his ability as a mercenary or just as an information source. Scenarios involving Soren will most likely relate to on planet strategic missions or exploratory ventures into the wilds of his home on Czerniak. He can also act as a liason between the group and the local party leaders. He knows and loves many things about his own culture group.