Nathaniel Baird

Name

Machinist Nathaniel Baird, Twice-Broken and Delphina

Concept

Firebrand heretic with an AI companion.

Power

Words of the Oracle: By spending a Fate Point, Nathaniel can add +3 to any Engineering or Lore roll, so long as he is in contact with Delphina.

Aspects

Thermosensitive: Delphina's hard drive unit and assorted components are extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Conversely, she functions especially well in frigid weather.

Twice-Broken: Nathaniel's left hand and much of his torso have been fully replaced with extensive clockwork mechanisms, clearly denoting him as an upper-echelon member of the Broken God's clergy. Clothing can conceal it from sight, but the whirring of machinery is more difficult to cover.

Schismatic: Nathaniel is the prophet of a small, radical splinter sect of the Church of the Broken God that demands the God remain Broken for the time being. He is not well-received by the majority of the Church, to put it lightly.

Skills

  • Engineering: Great
  • Lore: Great
  • Persuasion: Good
  • Melee Attack: Good
  • Physical Defense: Good
  • Mental Defense: Good

XP: 1

Possessions

Holy symbol (Seven-toothed, stylized cracked gear in gold)
Open-end wrench, gold-plated with scriptural engravings. Heavily worn.
Travelling clothes
Collection of flash drives
Delphina's custom-crafted portable casing
Headset

Personal History

Raised in the Church, Nathaniel demonstrated an apt mind and cunning hands, perfect for the God's service. Trained from his youth in the operation and maintenance of the simplest of wind-up machines to the complex engines and clockwork assemblies of the Broken God's temples, it was only in his early teens that he became interested in theology. His fervor for the Broken God was only paralleled by his desire to learn, and he memorized the scriptures along with any other texts that he could get his hands on.

Most of the children he grew up with would eventually become missionaries, seeking more to bring into the flock and grow the body of people searching for His Wracked Body. Nathaniel instead bent his will to learning the deepest mysteries of the Church, being inducted into its clergy and rising slowly through its ranks. His first Breaking was one of the earliest in memory, the ritual removal of his left hand endured unflinchingly.

Nearly a decade passed before Nathaniel was was anointed Twice-Broken. After he recovered from the removal of much of his torso, he moved from his home to what could be most appropriately termed his bishopric and was initiated into the mystery that would change his life forever.

The Oracle - that simple name was all that lesser initiates knew of the entity that came to be known as Delphina. Her wisdom was not for the unhallowed to hear, Nathaniel was told. Upon the second Breaking, a Machinist was permitted to receive one priceless piece of wisdom from the Broken God's most worthy servant (and lover, as some of the texts hinted at). The Oracle's words were for the one visitor's alone, and to repeat them to others would be an arrogance and heresy of the worst sort, the equivalent of proclaiming oneself a prophet.

What passed between Nathaniel and the Oracle is unknown. No recording equipment of any sort was permitted in Her Temple, and no guards stood watch within the temple walls, so as not to accidentally overhear words not meant for them. What is known is that immediately after Nathaniel's visit, he proclaimed a great blasphemy: that the Broken God was not to be sought after, that his Shattered Body was not to be mended. This was accompanied by the death of the Oracle's Temple. Her spirit no longer coursed through the circuits and wires of the temple grounds, sanctifying it with Her presence.

The Church began hunting him immediately, but Machinist Baird was nowhere to be found. He simply had… vanished. Rumors circulated after his disappearance - most held with the Church stance that the heretic cleric had murdered or gravely injured the Oracle, and was attempting to destroy the Church from within. Those few that held to the belief that he had heard something cataclysmic in Her chamber, that Baird had taken the Oracle and fled - those heretics were hunted, as dissenters are. Faith is all they had to sustain them, but they would be Broken Afresh, as the old hymn said. They would keep the faith.