The Lost Companions – Fen

Design Notes

I wanted to have someone who was more of a peer of the Doctor in The Lost Companions, not unlike the original Romana.  I thought about making another Time Lord, but settled on something equally exotic as the idea of this group being in the Eighth Doctor’s time solidified – an Initiate of the Sisterhood of Karn.  

The Sisterhood of Karn was first glimpsed by the audience in the Fourth Doctor’s episode – The Brain of Morbius, which added a significant amount of history to the Time Lords and Gallifrey, as well as creating some conundrums about the Doctor’s personal history but that  is a different story. Because they came from that era, though they become important for the Doctor in the relaunched Doctor Who as well, information is found in Cubicle 7’s Fourth Doctor Handbook. 

Being an Initiate of the Sisterhood of Karn is a significant special positive trait, so we will actually stay with that before we go through the rest of the character generation.  As an Initiate, Fen gets a package deal on a number of traits including Psychic, Telepathy, and Immortality but it costs 4 Story Points in addition to the 2 Character points reducing the ability to change the narrative flow of the game on a whim. I also want to add Precognition for the story basis, but I will leave off the Telekinesis and Teleportation reasoning that the distance from the Sisterhood makes it harder for her to pull off the truly impressive feats for now.

We’ve already spent 3 Character Points and reduced our Story POint availability when we turn to the attributes.  As you may able to guess from that list of traits that come with being an Initiate of the Sisterhood, Awareness, Resolve, and Ingenuity will be the three highly prized attributes. If we start the other three attributes at 2, or slightly below human average, we can have this three all start at a 5.  Sisters of Karn get a 1 point bump in their Resolve bringing us to 6. We may need some negative Traits to round out this statline as well as make a more interesting character.

Part of the Sisterhood of Karn package deal comes with a Major Negative Trait in the Obligation to the Sisterhood to protect the Sacred Flame. As a seer, Fen is often rather distracted even when not using the power as mechanically defined, so we’ll take Slow Reflexes (1) and Forgetful (1) to reflect that even though she is taking in the information with her high Awareness. Her view of the future seems to make it hard to connect with other life forms making her an Outsider (1) as well. Using these additional points, let’s raise her Presence to 3 and take the Minor Hypnosis Trait as well!

For skills, the Sisterhood of Karn’s well established abilities are in the biochemical field, so we will put at least 5 ranks into Medicine which then gets another point from the Sisterhood of Karn Special Trait. From their three points in both Science and Subterfuge seem reasonable to round out her major skills.  A few ranks in Craft (woodworking) and Knowledge to bolster that and a single rank in Survival make for a good character to challenge the Doctor’s knowledge. One extra character point left will let us choose an Area of Expertise in Science for Biology!

Character Notes

The Sisterhood of Karn had been reduced, but were still powerful.  Leaders in the cosmos in biogenetics with psychic powers that made them the peers of the Time Lords in their day.  On Karn, the Fourth Doctor faced down Morbius, hidden away from the rest of the Time Lords. The High Priestess of the Sisterhood saw a future, a terribly future, and knew that the Sisterhood had to set into motion plans to save the Universe from the Time Lords own arrogance.

The High Priestess chose wisely when picking  a Sister to be thrust upon the Doctor. Fen was a relatively new initiate, only a century old, when she was tapped for the task.  She had been graced with the power of prophecy by the Sacred Elixir when she became an Initiate and that ability would be instrumental in keeping the romantic, quixotic, and dashing Eighth Doctor on track for his tragic end. Fen had always been curious, but she often seemed lost in her own mind.  The power of her prophecy often overwhelmed her as she took in too much from this world and the worlds that may yet be. Her mind, as powerful as it was, could scarcely handle the web of possibilities she could see leading her to seem removed, forgetful, or distracted. She calmed herself working with wood – the physical act of shaping such a definite creation would give her a respite from her visions.  The physical act of shaping the wood would ensure something was left behind.

Fen was charged with accompanying the Doctor, in a face and demeanor so very different from the one who fought Morbius,, and guiding him to the point in time the High Priestess saw.  Fen’s task was to make sure the Doctor would die on Karn so that the War Doctor would be able to put a stop to the Time War. Fen’s goal is simple – help the Doctor live long enough to die the way the Sisterhood wants him to.  The Doctor seemed intrigued when a Sister of Karn stumbled across his path, but a the Sisterhood knew he would,couldn’t refuse her company. Another quick wit and immortal on the TARDIS energized this Doctor and it helped thrust him forward even as she would argue with Sgt. Armstrong trying to keep the Doctor from falling into war before he should.

The Lost Companions Overview Here. 

Fen Karn Sister Sheet.

Fillable Character sheet by Michael Lewis available at RPGGeek.com  (Registration required)

BBC Logo © BBC 1996. Doctor Who logo © BBC 2004. Tardis image © BBC 1963. Dalek image © BBC/Terry Nation 1963. Cyberman image © BBC/Kit Pedlar/Gerry Davis 1963. Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space produced by Cubicle 7 under license by BBC Worldwide Limited. Seize the GM is a fan production. No claim of ownership or challenge to the copyrighted work is intended or implied.

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