SIX BACKGROUNDS DREAMT BY AN INSOMNIAC (Troika)

21 Sep, 2026

I haven’t been sleeping much, so I wrote some Troika! backgrounds instead. They are mostly concerned with bodily fluids, cosmic mistakes, and terrible jobs. Use them the next time you need to roll up a replacement character after the party gets digested by a dimensional garbage truck.

1. Astral Whaler's Orphan

You were born in the belly of a leviathan that swims between the spheres. You smell faintly of ambergris and ozone. The crew left you at a spaceport on a plastic asteroid when you were eight. You're still looking for them, or maybe you're just looking to get paid.

• Possessions:
  • Harpoon (Damage as Spear).
  • Jar of star-blubber (heals 2 Stamina, tastes like sorrow).
  • A crumpled map written in coordinates you don't understand.
• Skills:
  • 2 Astrology
  • 2 Climb
  • 1 Spear
  • 1 Sea Shanty

2. Defrocked Gastromancer

You used to read the future in the entrails of golden geese, until the Guild caught you eating the profits. Now you make do with pigeon guts, synthetic sausages, and stale prophecies.

• Possessions:
  • Silver carving knife (Damage as Knife).
  • Blood-stained apron (counts as Modest Armour).
  • A tin of mints to hide your breath.
• Skills:
  • 3 Spell - Read Entrails (Requires a fresh corpse and 10 minutes).
  • 2 Knife Fighting
  • 1 Evaluate
  • 1 Etiquette

3. Misprinted Demiurge-spawn

God made man in his image. You were printed on a machine with a jammed metaphysical cartridge. You're smeared, entirely two-dimensional in certain lighting, and completely furious about it.

• Possessions:
  • A jagged edge of un-reality (Damage as Sword).
  • A half-empty bottle of cosmic correction fluid.
• Skills:
  • 3 Sneak (Only when standing perfectly sideways).
  • 2 Sword
  • 2 Spell - Undo

4. Gland-Harvester of the Third Sphere

The aristocrats of the upper spheres need new glands to feel new emotions. You cut them out of the poor who feel enough emotions as it is. It’s a living. You have a terrible bedside manner, but an incredibly steady hand.

• Possessions:
  • Rusty surgical kit.
  • Bone-saw (Damage as Axe).
  • A sealed jar of synthesized "Ennui" (Highly toxic if ingested).
• Skills:
  • 3 Healing
  • 2 Axe
  • 1 Anatomy
  • 1 Haggling

5. Echo-Monger

You collect interesting sounds in glass jars and sell them to deaf poets. You haven't spoken a word in years, mostly because your own voice is too valuable to give away for free.

• Possessions:
  • 6 Glass jars (empty).
  • 1 Glass jar containing the sound of a dying star.
  • Heavy iron tuning fork (Damage as Club).
• Skills:
  • 3 Listen
  • 2 Stealth
  • 2 Club
  • 1 Spell - Silence

6. Porcelain Homunculus (Chipped)

You were built to pour tea for a wizard who died a thousand years ago. After sweeping the same tower for a millennium, you finally decided to go outside. You are fragile, technically immortal, and easily startled.

• Possessions:
  • Immaculate, slightly dusty butler's suit.
  • Silver serving tray (Damage as Shield).
  • Tea leaves of perfect calming properties.
• Skills:
  • 3 Etiquette
  • 2 Shield
  • 2 Awareness
  • 1 Run Away