RPGaDay 2026 Day 21: Charity

 

Now for a male NPC for Ureka and let's hope he's feeling Charitable. Or not. Because this is Ureka. Carsonism is a sort of Victorian reconstructionism, which means that certain, less-charitable views about charity are more likely to come up. So yes, this NPC is being conceived as a villain.

I think this specific bit of "charity" is towards the Ratfolk. Just like many other varieties of outsiders before them, the folk of Ureka think they're doing the Ratfolk a favor by allowing a certain number to live and work among them, giving them jobs that no one else wanted to do.

When I wrote up Scarlett from Day 4, I mentioned the possibility of her infiltrating various places by posing as a housemaid. So let's say that there is a "school" established to try to civilize the Ratfolk. Of course, like other schools of this type established throughout history, it is horrible and abusive.

The headmaster, Silas Trevalyan, has accepted that, in spite of the best efforts of the Ratcatchers, the Ratfolk will persist. So the best alternative is to bring them to heel in service of humans.

Name: Silas Trevalyan

Appearance: A gaunt white man in his 50's in a dark suit. He has a crown of white hair surrounding a growing bald patch on top of his head.

Quote: "I'll see that you pay for that!"

Roleplaying: Silas glares at everyone as if they have wronged him and he is seeking an opportunity for revenge.

Background: In the early campaigns to secure the city, Silas guarded Ratfolk prisoners. He passed the time teaching them tricks, then tasks, then jobs. While he avoids calling them intelligent, he admits that they are "clever," "trainable" and "useful."

Key Info:

He runs an abusive school to teach Ratfolk jobs that allow them to operate in Ureka society.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay 2026 Day 20: Promise

 Now to make a male NPC for the Eureka Ruins, and he's got a Promise to keep. I know I didn't post yesterday, so I have broken my promise to you, dear reader. It is getting more difficult to come up with more angles on the setting. But that's all the more reason for me to push on and do what I can.

One of the aspects that I still need to delve into in the Disguised Purpose of the Ruins. I suggested with my last NPC that it as something left behind by the last human occupants of Eureka during the Collapse. But since that character was human, presumably any discovery would be presented to the citizens of Ureka.

So now we look at the Ratfolk who is leading the hunt. He is working under a Philosopher King dedicated to piecing together what clues it can find, currently based out of Alice Birney Elementary School. Most of the area of the Eureka Ruins is very residential, so infrastructure hubs with power and data capacity are more likely to be schools than office buildings.

For simplicity, let's say that his name is Digger. He directs a team of agents to explore various areas of the city for clues regarding what is hiding underneath Eureka. He's also close to Fort Humboldt and can report to the Rat King who rules from that location.

Name: Digger

Appearance: A brown-furred Ratfolk with prominent teeth and a nervous expression. He is constantly in motion. If he is forced to stand still, he will fidget continuously.

Quote: "Right away, sir. Immediately. I'm on my way."

Background: Digger started as a messenger throughout the Eureka Ruins until he was tapped to relay messages for the Philosopher King at Alice Birney, He now oversees the messengers and agents supporting the research, but still finds opportunities to get out into the field.

Key Info:

He is connected to a Philosopher King and has access to the Rat King as needed.
He has access to any information that the Ratfolk have on the Installation.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay 2026 Day 18: Directness

 Now it's time for a male NPC from Squatch-Ville with some Directness. And because I have not been creating sasquatch NPCs the last couple of rounds, this is definitely a sasquatch.

I've been looking for the opportunity to build out different aspects of Squatch-Ville society and one thing that has come to mind is crime and punishment. The virtue of Directness feels like something that a judge would appreciate.

Policing as a concept is very basic in this setting. Most enclaves have some sort of basic police patrols, probably integrated with external defense. Ureka's police force is the Ratcatchers, so named because of their primary foe, the Ratfolk, though they do generally keep the peace as well. The police forces of Squatch-Ville aren't so colorful, but are similarly focused on external threats.

In either case, there's one thing that they don't do: Investigation. The police detective is a role that they have not re-invented yet. If a crime cannot be immediately "solved" such as a dead body being found without some poor sod with a knife close at hand, it is up to the victim to seek restitution, fairly similar to a modern civil case, by hiring an Advocate. In the case of a murder, the Advocate would typically be hired by the victim's family or spouse, and it would fall to them to solve the murder and determine who to demand restitution from.

While Advocates and Watch are typically human, judges of these cases are exclusively sasquatch. Including the character we'll be meeting today.

Name: Judge Joseph

Appearance: Black-furred sasquatch, 7 feet, 6 inches tall. He wears the beads and bangles of office.

Quote: "Let's not get distracted from the matter at hand."

Background: Joseph has been a judge for a little under a year, since he last returned from invisibility. He had previously held an administrative position that better suited his temperament, but it had been filled during his absence.

Key Info:

If the party has to resolve a legal matter in Squatch-Ville, they are likely to appear before Judge Joseph.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay 2026 Day 17: Intensity

 

Developing another female NPC for Ureka and she's got some Intensity. I feel like I'm trying to find smaller and smaller niches as I go along (and I'm also doing these much closer to the wire, so maybe they're getting a touch less thought), but my feeling here is that this is a plucky girl reporter at the Times-Standard.

Name: Hildy Russel

Appearance: A red-haired mousey woman in her 20s in a practical business outfit.

Quote: "Is that on the record?"

Roleplaying: Hildy talks very fast, making it difficult to get a word in edgewise.

Background: Hildy has always been sharp and inquisitive. When the offices of the Times-Standard newspaper were reclaimed and re-opened, she became one of the first reporters to reply. She is also a regular in the local podcast scene.

Key Info:

Hildy has information on a lot of goings-on around Ureka
Hildy may need independent sources to gather information, or competent escort to dangerous locales where information may be obtained.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay2026 Day 16: Composure

Now to come up with an female NPC for the Eureka Ruins who is having a hard time with her Composure. If she were having an easy time with her composure, she might be a little too close to Scarlett from back on Day 4, so let's try to keep things interesting.

In fact, to make things a bit more interesting, let's make her human. What is a human doing spending most of her time in the Eureka Ruins? Well, one of the things that I've struggled to incorporate into the setting is one of the Ruin tags that I rolled up for this part of town has been the Hidden Purpose. It doesn't really mesh with how I think of my hometown,

But if we're willing to accept that Hupa developed some sort of black programs that it implemented while everything was falling apart, there are other kinds of developments that very naturally follow. So there may well be something hidden under this portion of Eureka.

So our NPC is Mary Ross (named after a Native American rocket scientist), who has come up from Frisco to try to learn about what happened up here since the Collapse. Since she is Native American, she is interested in Hupa and she might work her way there at some point. But right now, she's interested in what might have happened in Eureka in response.

She's also interested in Tuluwat, the largest island in Humboldt Bay. It's gone by a few names in its history, but it is currently called Tuluwat and is the territory of the local Wiyot tribe. If Hupa was able to militarize, maybe Tuluwat was able to have a small navy controlling the bay. And maybe Eureka was able to work up a response.

So what does Composure have to do with all this? Well, like any post-apocalyptic scientist, she more than a little MAD!

Name: Mary Golda Ross

Appearance: A Native American woman in her 30's with straight dark hair under a kerchief. She wears khaki outdoor gear.

Quote: "How exciting!"

Roleplaying: She is brilliant and very excitable. The prospect of a new discovery will have her clapping her hands and rubbing them together in glee.

Background: Mary is from one of the larger Enclaves in the San Francisco Bay area on a research expedition.

Key Info:

She has some information regarding Hupa, Tuluwat, and even some of the science projects at Calpoly and underneath Eureka from her studies, but she is limited on practical experience, which she is eager to get.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay 2026 Day 15: Endurance

Now we're making a male NPC for Cow Town and just surviving in Cow Town is an act of Endurance. And for all that we've talked about how horrible it is, maybe we should look at some of the reasons that the people stay.

There is a certain kind of safety in living in a place that no one else wants. No raiders coming to kill you when they know you're going to die sooner rather than later and whatever killed you may well be waiting for them.

There is hunting and gathering that can be done outside the city. And the Eel River with its slamon runs passes under the bridge at Fernbridge.

And cleanup of the radioactive and irradiated materials is possible. It's just slow and difficult work being done by people who are slowly dying as they do it.

One of the people taking on that work is Ernie Pierson (actually named after the founder of one of the most famous hardware stores in Humboldt County). Armed with a Geiger counter, he spends his days trying to isolate radioactive metals and remove them from wherever he can. And even if he were to remove all of radioactive materials, recovery and return to normalcy are a good distance away.

Name: Ernie Pierson

Appearance: A middle-aged barrel-chested white man with thinning grey hair and a bushy mustache. He wears a neon green safety vest over his work clothes and dark protective goggles.

Quote:

Roleplaying: He is always willing to help, but averse to violence. He is on good terms with most folks in town and can provide some information on most of them. He will guide

Background: Ernie has always been an explorer and his Geiger counter lets him find safe places as well as identify radiation hazards that he may eventually be able to remove.

Key Info:

He has a Geiger counter that can identify radioactive materials and areas.

Stat Block:

RPGaDay 2026 Day 14: Regard

 Now to create another female NPC for Squatch-Ville. Because this is another female NPC and the prompt is very close, I want to make sure that I'm not retreading Day 2, so I'll make this character a human. She won't have Stature, but she will have Regard.

I do have a couple more chances to make sasquatch NPCs and I do want to develop their society further. But one of the ways to do that is to show how humans live in their society. And the difference between Stature and Regard gives us an opportunity to look at the glass ceiling that prevents humans from rising too high in Squatch-Ville society.

So our NPC clearly has some measure of authority, but that is sharply limited. She lives and works among the sasquatch, but is frequently overruled.

The truth is that Squatch-Ville is not a single city, but a widely distributed community. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle means that the people must forage from large sections of the forest to feed their families and communities. There is a "trade town" that acts as a central hub where these distributed gatherers can come together to trade for what they need with other gatherer groups and also outside traders. This is what most outsiders refer to as "Squatch-Ville."

Each of these smaller communities is overseen by a sasquatch. Since they are nobility in this situation, they would naturally have little feudal fiefs. But our NPC is not a sasquatch. She's actually something of a secretary or vizier to the sasquatch overseer of this particular fief. So she's very close to power, but just a hairsbreadth away from it.

She's actually competent and when the last overseer went invisible, she requested that she be promoted to overseer permanently. Instead, the position was filled by another sasquatch designated by the Central Council, with the use-name "Percy."

Name: Lillian Donovan

Appearance: An attractive slender Black woman with tightly curled, close-cropped hair. She wears a simple dress with bangles and bracelets denoting her position in sasquatch society.

Quote:

Roleplaying: Lillian is very well organized and helpful. She sees Percy as useless and will avoid involving him as much as possible.

Background: She grew up in Squatch-Ville and found herself to be a competent and capable organizer. She's taken risen through the ranks to be the top human administrator in her fief.

Key Info:

She is a capable and competent administrator
She wishes that she had the authority to run the fief without having to defer to a sasquatch

Stat Block: