1,001 Characters #39: Crazy Red Balls

 

39. Crazy Red Balls        F988AA     ex-Scout     Age 34      4 Terms

Skills: Pilot-1, Mechanical-1, Medical-1, Computer-1, Jack of Trades-1.

Benefits: Cr50,000, Low Passage.

    Crazy Red Balls is a non-human sophont. Before joining and serving in the MEK not much is known about it or its species. Crazy Red Balls is a hulking brute of a creature with short legs and long powerful arms and hands. Vaguely humanoid it has a semi-insectoid head which juts forward from the shoulders on a short neck. Its vertical mouth slit makes humanoid speech very difficult and it relies on portable vocoder/translator devices to communicate with other species. If it has a gender it has not been forthcoming with that information and while it sometimes makes references to its homeworld, it has never provided any information about its location. Crazy Red Balls is basically a mystery. Its name is the best Galanglic translation it can come up with.

    Crazy Red Balls joined the MEK (scouts) on its homeworld, but the scout who recruited it died on the return journey and left Crazy Red Balls to pilot the ship to Moni. A thorough investigation cleared it of any suspicion of murdering its shipmate, and Crazy Red Balls was trained to pilot the MEK ships (Pilot-1), and it was instructed in the many routine maintenance tasks and repairs needed by such a ship and other equipment used (Mechanical-1). Basic medical training was also part of its training, but the focus was on human medical care as they make up the majority of species encountered in this region of space (Medical-1). It was assigned the "Gypsy Moth" as its ship.

    Sent out to explore the galaxy, Crazy Red Balls encountered a young human who wanted to explore the galaxy and emulating its mentor it decided to recruit the human, Marc Spieler by name. Crazy Red Balls and Marc spent almost four years together, becoming good friends. It taught Marc what it could before taking him back to Moni to be assigned a ship of his own. Thereafter Crazy Red Balls continued exploring the galaxy, along the way learning computer programming skills (Computer-1) and how to overcome a host of problems and issues with minimal training and/or equipment (Jack of Trades-1).

    Not long after its fourth term of service Crazy Red Balls apparently vanished (failed survival roll). The "Gypsy Moth" was listed as missing back at MEK HQ on Moni. 

 

    ???????    ????    X5508AC-0        Na Po De                                  G

Referee:  Crazy Red Balls is a unique alien. I've left the background vague to allow referees to adapt it to their own setting. The homeworld data is for my setting and can easily be changed to whatever you as referee wish. 

    I originally created Crazy Red Balls' species using the animal encounter rules, this is the result:

Intimidator    100kg, 5D/2D, Hands +1, No Armour, A5,F2,S1

 

    Afterwards I started looking for a miniature from amongst my collection, with the requirement that it look somewhat intimidating, to elicit a xenophobic reaction and have some reason for language difficulties. See related post on Marc Spieler for more. My search bore fruit in the form of "Merc1b Insectoid Thug" from the old Critical Mass range, now made and sold by Ral Partha Europe. 

    Since this miniature is part of the set "Captain Bytt and Crew" I've decided that Crazy Red Balls is now serving as part of Captain Bytt's crew, probably out of a sense of duty to the being who saved it from the wreck of the Gypsy Moth. Also since they're listed as mercenaries I'm thinking they're crewing a ship serving as a mercenary transport. Whether that's a merchant ship retrofitted for the purpose, a merc cruiser, or a pirate ship, I haven't decided yet. In any event they will be operating on the coreward side of The Void in Auzhan Sector. Which means Marc Spieler must find a way to the other side of The Void if he wants to find his friend Crazy Red Balls.

    Note: I used 6+2D for Crazy Red Balls Strength characteristic. all others were 2D.

    Here's a picture of the miniature I'm going to use.

    I'll update this with a painted version later.