Cargo & Kahuna

[Lord Z]

South Pacific Duo
I built these characters as part of a submission for Rifter #0.1 and for fun. I realized, however, that the Cargo Priest was breaking the rules. He wasn't staying within the range of a radio tower, and he was still calling cargo. Anyway, they still work okay as NPCs for a group that isn't sticklers for the rules. I cut them from the submission, so I am placing them here instead. The Kahuna character did get tweaked a little after I decided to cut her from the submission. Originally, she had the Huna Magic power of Weather Control. The Kahuna version of weather control just made her too overpowering for a low level BtS character, and she would have overshadowed her partner as well. I've replaced that power with Call Kamapua'a Bounty.

For use with most Palladium Games, but particularly Beyond the Supernatural 2nd Edition, Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition, Ninjas & Superspies, or Nightbane. For use in BtS-2, one might wish to change Virginia's I.S.P. pool to match other psychics in that setting. In a high-magic mega-damage setting like Rifts Earth, Morgan's called weapons will inflict mega-damage, and his empowered structures will become M.D.C. structures. For Ninjas & Superspies, these two will be greatly outmatched in even a simple fight due to their few combat skills and abilities, so keep that in mind. Please notice that I did not place these characters in any specific decade. They could show up at any time after World War II and the American occupation of Hawaii.

Morgan was born in the remote South Pacific. His tribe had a tradition of naming their children after the cargo from their ancestors. Morgan lived a fairly normal childhood, apprenticing to the tribe's cargo priest. The priest would perform ceremonies to request gifts from Heaven, and little Morgan offered what little manna he could to help. These rituals always resulted in cargo delivered on an airplane from Heaven. This idealistic period ended when a typhoon damaged the village. Before the ceremonial tower could be rebuilt, an aggressive tribe from a nearby island attacked. The aggressors were lead by a cargo priest also, but this priest used the Cargo Magic to summon weapons and dangerous vehicles. The attackers killed the defenders and shrunk their heads a trophies.
Morgan was the lone survivor. He was carried to the home island of the aggressors to serve as a slave and source of manna for the evil priest. No one alive knew that Morgan had already begun studying the ways of Cargo Magic. As a slave, he continued to observe until he knew as much as the evil old man. Morgan the slave also performed acts of mischief, undermining the aggressive tribe in subtle ways whenever he could. During Morgan's fifteenth year, he managed to frame the evil priest for treason against the tribe. The tribe turned against itself in civil war, and the evil priest was killed by the village chief. Morgan harvested and shrank the evil priest's head.
After that, Morgan escaped and traveled the islands. Unable to summon much without help, Morgan rented out his services as a traveling cargo priest. He became more of a trickster with each passing year. If a village didn't treat him the way he thought that it should, he would play a nasty trick and then disappear into the night. The ancestors continued to bring his good things, so they must have approved of his actions, right?
Morgan decided to travel farther. Morgan continued his destructive, deceitful and malicious pranks everywhere he traveled. He stowed away on a boat to Hawaii. There, Morgan was surprised by how much cargo the wealthy people had. There were no cargo priests among these Americans, so they must have stolen it from the ancestors. Then Morgan met Virginia.
The woman now called Virginia was born and raised in a traditional Hawaiian village. She was a servant to her aunt, a wicked Kahuna who abused both her and spirits. The aunt would bend spirits to her command, forcing them to haunt or endanger others. This is how the aunt eliminated people she didn't like, and she earned the reputation of being a witch. When the girl realized that she was intended to be a human sacrifice, she murdered her own aunt. Despite the violence of the act, members of a nearby village saw the evidence of the aunt's evil, heard testimony from the ghosts and concluded that the girl was a hero.
Despite being accepted by the village, the girl remained cold and bitter. The girl hated living in a village where everyone knew that she was an orphan with a dark past. Instead of working for a living, she chose to travel into the towns and con tourists out of their money.
One night, the girl (who was now a woman) walked to the top of an active volcano to throw herself inside. She was surprised to see someone else already there, a strange small man with very dark skin. He was drawing manna from the volcano. “We can do that?” she thought. She confronted the man and demanded to know why he was trespassing on her volcano. The strange man summoned a bottle of rum out of the air and offered her a drink.
The two strangers grew to know each other quickly. They found much in common in their backgrounds, and they had similar views on life as well. She was amazed by what he could get from his ancestors, and he was amazed that she could see and speak with her own ancestors. Before sunrise, Morgan invited her into his tribe and chose a new name for her. She became Virginia Lucky, named after her and his brands of cigarettes.
Morgan and Virginia are traveling the world. They grift from money and spread anarchy wherever they can. They can always make some quick money by selling a summoned bottle or a motorcycle, and then they leave town before the summoning during expires and the item vanishes. They also experiment with more elaborate schemes. Although dishonest selfish to an extreme, neither consider themselves to be evil. They have seen evil in the past, dealt with it and will do so again if they must. If they could learn to trust each other, they would make a perfect couple.

Name: Cappy Morgan.
Experience Level: 3rd Level Cargo Priest (from RifterTM #47).
Alignment: Anarchist.
Attributes: I.Q. 11, M.E. 12, M.A. 15, P.S. 9, P.E. 8, P.P. 10, P.B. 13, Spd 8.
Hit Points: 20. S.D.C.: 19.
Age: 20; Sex: Male; Height: 5 feet, 7 inches (1.7 m); Weight: 150 lbs (68 kg).
Disposition: Morgan is thief, confidence artist and mean prankster. He will be your best friend until the moment you stop watching him.
Description: Morgan is a Melanesian man with wild hair, very dark skin, large eyes and a wicked smile. He has tattoos all over his body. He often dresses in expensive suits which he calls from generous ancestors. His favorite outfits are wing-tip shoes, a pin stripe suit and a matching fedora.
P.P.E.: 78. Magic Knowledge: Morgan is a master of Cargo Magic. He can summon certain items from the afterlife of his ancestors as quickly as spellcasting, and the items will appear beside him. He also temporarily gains the skills he needs to use these items. He can also enchant replicas to give them the same powers as actual equipment, but Morgan prefers to not do this. He likes to travel light, and he rarely stays in one place long enough to build constructions. His other powers include speaking with the Ghosts of the Cargo (by radio only); Discern Presence of Enchantments, Possessions or Curses 20%; and Draw P.P.E. from other sources including volcanoes.
Cargo Calling Powers: Cigarettes (4 PPE per pack, 6 days duration, equivalent to a 1st level spell in terms of potency and casting time), Booze or Brew (5 PPE per bottle, 3 days duration, equivalent to a 1st spell in terms of potency), Uniform or Clothing (5 PPE per outfit, 18 days duration, 1st level), Tools (not including power tools, 10 PPE for one tool or 25 for a full kit, 60 days duration, 1st level), Musical Instrument (10 PPE, 12 days duration, 2nd level), Grenade (10 PPE, 3 days duration, 3rd level), Pistol (20 PPE, 1 melee casting time, 12 days duration, 3rd level), Bullet (4 PPE, 1 melee round, 12 days duration, 3rd level), Radio (30 PPE, 1 melee to cast, 90 days duration, 4th level), Motorcycle (300 PPE, 3 minutes to cast, 3 days duration, 6th level), Small Cargo Boat (Higgins Boat type, 800 PPE, 10 minutes to cast, 6 days duration, 7th level), and Flying Boat (airplane which can land on water, Grumman G-21 type, 800 PPE, 10 minutes to cast, 9 days, 9th level).
Cargo Building Powers: Tower (350 PPE, 6 months duration, 65 S.D.C., equivalent to a 6th level spell in terms of potency) and Medical Hut (1250 PPE, 3 months duration, 75 S.D.C., equivalent to an 8th level spell).
Psionics: None.
Skills of Note: Languages: Pidgin English 85% (can understand American English at 65%), Japanese 56%, Literate: English 50%, Sing 60% and Dance 60% in native Melanesian styles, Lore: 1930s/1940s American Pop Culture 35%, Holistic Medicine 55%/45%, Brewing: Medicinal 35%/40%, Radio: Basic 65%, Prowl 45%, Seduction 36%, Tattooing 55%, Construct Bone/Shell/Stone Tools & Weapons 55%, Swim 75%, Wilderness Survival 50%, Carpentry 50%, W.P. Blunt (+1 Strike & Parry), W.P. Handguns (+1 Strike), W.P. Knife (+1 Strike, +2 Parry, +2 Thrown) and W.P. Targeting (+2 Strike).
Hand to Hand Skill: Basic.
Attacks per Melee: 4. Combat Bonuses: +1 Perception, +3 Roll with Impact, +3 Pull Punch, +2 Parry & Dodge, Kick Attack (1D8), +2 vs Horror Factor, +1 vs Magic and +2 vs drugs/poisons/toxins.
Weapons and Equipment: pacho (shark tooth club, 1D6), stone knife (1D4), World War II era canteen, small idol (which is actually the shrunken head of his first enemy) and $200 he made by selling summoned motorcycles. Everything else was left behind when he left his homeland; even the clothes on his back are temporary gifts of the ancestors.

Name: Virginia Lucky.
Alignment: Unprincipled.
Attributes: I.Q. 11, M.E. 12, M.A. 10, P.S. 7, P.E. 11, P.P. 12, P.B. 13, Spd 9.
Hit Points: 29. S.D.C.: 13.
Experience Level: 3rd Level Hawaiian Kahuna (from RifterTM #46).
Age: 23; Sex: Female; Height: 5 feet, 5 inches (1.65 m); Weight: 140 lbs (63.5 kg).
Disposition: Virginia is more worldly and knowledgeable than Morgan. Whereas Morgan is mostly interested in being an anarchist, Virginia is interested in profiting from his high-jinks. Virginia knows that she could easily make a small fortune with her fishing power alone, but conning and stealing is more fun. She is very manipulative, and she is happiest right after she has robbed someone blind.
Description: Virginia has a small figure, tanned complexion, and very long straight black hair. She can dress up light royalty or down like a peasant depending on the role she is playing.
P.P.E.: 40, I.S.P.: 20, Magic Knowledge: Virginia's magic isn't spellcasting but a type called Huna Magic. All of her powers are partly magic and partly psychic.
Kahuna Powers: Commune with the Spirits, Communicate with Animals, Travel as Uhane (out of body experience similar to astral projection), Reconnect Uhane and Kino (reconnects lost soul with its body), and her Huna Magic.
Huna Magic Powers: Healing/Reverse Ana'ana (5 PPE to heal 1D6 non-magic damage or 1 magic damage; 5 ISP to drive away a spirit), Thought Implantation (6 ISP, works like Hypnotic Suggestion) and Call Kamapua'a Bounty (twice per day, summons fish into all nets within a 10 mile/16km radius; also repels all dangerous sea predators and monsters).
Skills of Note: Literate: English 50%, Language: Japanese 56%, Lore: Faeries & Creatures of Magic 55%, Lore: Magic 55%, Lore: Demons & Monsters 45%, Lore: Mythology 60% (Hawaiian myths only), First Aid 65%, Sing 55%, Dance: Hula 60%, Swim 75%, Track & Trap Animals 40%/50%, Land Navigation 54%, Wilderness Survival 50%, Seduction 26%, Prowl 35%, Water Skiing & Surfing 48%, W.P. Spear (+2 Strike & Parry, +1 Throw) and W.P. Knife (+1 Strike, +2 Parry & Throw).
Hand to Hand Skill: Basic.
Attacks per Melee: 4. Combat Bonuses: +2 Parry & Dodge, +2 Pull Punch & Roll with Impact, Kick Attack (1D8), +1 vs Magic & Psychic Attacks and +5 vs Horror Factor involving spirits.
Weapons and Equipment: Swtichblade knife (1D6), belt of medical pouches, 8 healing powders, ti leaves used in Huna Spirit Magic, bandages, a water filled gourd, and $200.

Connections to other Characters: Several larger factions would be interested in finding a recruiting these two. Their unique styles of magic are phenomena that any mage would love to study. Virginia's ability to repel all sea monsters (with no saving throw) would be a huge boon to monster-hunting factions. The South Pacific Duo is willing to work with anyone for a price, but these alliances don't last long. Morgan and Virginia know that they aren't the best scrappers, so they tend to be very cautious about who they trust and don't work with anyone else for long. There are also many former victims and a few law enforcers who would like to catch them.

[mrloucifer]

Between your description from the GM's section and what you've put here, I've gotta get my filthy mitts on this Rifter article and add it to my game material.

[Natasha]

Wash your hands!

And Cappy Morgan? At least spell Morgan backwards or something!

I like it.

[Slag]

Nice!

Always good to see my work is enjoyed. I like the BtS spin...that ought to throw the skeptics for a loop!

BTW: The Tower is only needed for certain Cargo abilities, such as Aircraft. Even then, you have a 100 mile radius from the Tower if you can "relay" through a Walkie/Handie-Talkie or Cargo Radio. Even the Radio is only needed for certain abilities. Check the Requires: for each ability.

Most simple items can be Called anywhere (Luckys, Rations, even Pistols).

[Aramanthus]

Nice NPCs. Thank you for sharing them with us!

[Lord Z]

I appreciate the correction, Slag.

Natasha, is Cappy Morgan too close for trademark purposes? How about Captain Walker or Captain Jimmy Bean?

[Natasha]

I appreciate the correction, Slag.

Natasha, is Cappy Morgan too close for trademark purposes? How about Captain Walker or Captain Jimmy Bean?

No, no, I was just pointing out the Palladium authorship's tendency for spelling things backward or adding a double vowel or an apostrophe etc.