[Scenario Seed/NPC] George

[Catsmate]

This came to me while I was travelling yesterday, so it's fairly rudimentary speculation; basically it's a "what if" modification of the xmas special Voyage of the Damned.

Who is George? Well he's a human (mostly), an unwilling space traveller, a (relatively) ordinary person dragged into extraordinary matters. He's a fairly typical person to encounter the Doctor really. But George has some plans of his own...

George is the result of an idle thought about the xmas special Voyage
of the Damned and specifically Mr. (Bayldon?) Copper, ship's historian and the tourists'
guide to Terran culture (and holder of a degree in Earthonomics). What
if this rather ineffectual and ignorant person was replaced by an actual
human? One I've chosen to call George.

• Later I found that the human kidnapped by the Gaztaks on the orders of Meglos was named as George Morris in the novelisation.

So, sometime in 2002-5 a human ends up travelling involuntarily in space, but why would a passing alien kidnap him? Well the world of Sto isn't described in much detail in the episode but they seem to combine a fascination with Terran culture with restrictions on accessing the planet, so he was probably caught up in some illegality

• test subject for some experiment
• saw something inconvenient, like illegal activities on Earth.
  
• is there a market for human body parts? 'Human horn' perhaps?
• trade in human cultural artifacts
  

So George ends up on a small alien spacecraft. Unfortunately for his captors he's an intelligent psychopath and utterly willing to survive at any cost. Somehow he ends up on Sto, either rescued by the authorities or having taken control of the spaceship.
What happens next? Well the authorities are stuck with him, given their apparent restrictions on contact with Earth that can't simply drop him home. So George starts a new life, probably something academic, lecturer in human studies perhaps? Possibly he knocks out a few books on Earth culture, or recycles any he had with him. Given the apparent fascination  the inhabitants of Sto have with human culture this seems possible.

• Perhaps even on actual paper for the fan market
• I wonder how an alien planet would react to Harry Potter...
  

Certainly the people of Sto seem interested in Earth (or else why model
the ship on the RMS Titanic) but rather ignorant of it's history,
culture and people (or else Copper's stories wouldn't pass). If there a local talk show circuit equivalent?

A couple of years later Max Capricorn announces his plans for a replica of the greatest cruise ship Earth ever saw and a maiden voyage to Earth. George is interested, and possibly involved. But he has a plan of his own, return to Earth, with a few souvenirs of his time in space.

• George should recognise the significance of the name and at least wonder.
  

Instead of a bumbling, kind-hearted and uninformed Bayldon Copper the passengers have an actual expert on human culture.

• Or possibly in addition to Copper; in which case he'll instantly realise Copper is a fraud. And possibly make him an involuntary ally.
• Was he invited along rather than employed? What is his relationship with Copper?

Plans.
Does George know of Capricorn's plan?
Is he part of it? Who double-crosses whom first?
Was he going to destroy the Titanic to cover his own escape?
Or did he just plan to jump ship and return to Earth (with a suitcase/escape pod/lifeboat/shuttle/personal yacht stuffed with useful odds and ends) and get mixed up in the events of Capricorn's planned destruction of the Titanic.
What does he do when he learns of the plan? He hardly wants to return to a devastated Earth but he's careful of his own skin, so what does he do?

• Or does he? Perhaps an Earth recovering from a devastating impact would be useful, easier to take over if his plans extend to that.
  

How does he get along with the Doctor? Does the latter leave him on Earth? Does he figure out George's plan?

What are George's long term plans? Carve out a comfortable niche on Earth? Manipulate events to control humanity from behind the scenes? Conquer the planet (in the great Who tradition)?

• What does he know about UNIT/Torchwood (and similar organisations) and the Doctor?

Voyage of the Damned ends with Copper left on Earth to fit in, with only a credit card. George would probably find this easier (though there's his disappearance to explain, ironically contacting UNIT might be useful here). I wonder what the future holds for him...


George.
Awareness 3, Coordination 3, Ingenuity 5, Presence 3, Resolve 4, Strength 2
Argumentative, Charming, Face in the Crowd, Insatiable Curiosity, Outsider, Resourceful Pockets, Ruthless, Selfish, Technically Adept, Time Traveller (sort of, experienced with TL5 and 6/7), Unadventurous
Athletics 1, Convince 3, Craft 2, Fighting 1, Knowledge 4, Marksman 2, Medicine 1, Science 4, Subterfuge 2, Survival 1, Technology 4, Transport 1

[Catsmate]

A few additional speculations/ideas about George, and "Georges" in general.

The idea of a modern day human accidentally transported elsewhere and stranded isn't a common one in Who, the only significant example I can think of in canon is Ace. However it's an interesting potential background for a PC or NPC, justifying experience with advanced technology, aliens and similar. Billy (from Delta and the Bannermen) is somewhat similar, though he left voluntarily and knowingly.


Campaign involvement.

1. Before leaving Earth
Perhaps an encounter with the Doctor, or other PCs, is what causes a George to become involved in the alien contact that led to his departure from Earth. Maybe he got interested in weird events and an investigation went awry.
Perhaps later when the PCs attempt to contact him they find he's disappeared.


2. On Sto
Or Iceworld, or wherever he ends up. Depending on how things have gone George could be a useful contact for a party of time travellers, able to fill them in on local events and society, perhaps provide contacts and resources.

• Unless be blames them for his predicament and harbours a grudge of course
  

This could be a sequel to point 1 above, with the PCs encountering a minor NPC, that they'd last known on Earth, on a distant planet. Does he want a lift home? Or is he happy where he is?


3. On the RMS Titanic
As described in my previous post George could be a useful resource aboard the Titanic, or in a similar scenario. Of course this depends on his motivations, and involvement with whatever main plot is happening.


4. Back on Earth.
If a George makes it home what happens next? If it was a planned return then he's probably brought a few useful bits and pieces along with him, ranging from a suitcase to a well-stuffed spacecraft.

• Queue conflict with governments, corporations, Torchwood-like agencies and UNIT for any useful scraps of advanced alien tech.
• Of course a smart George will have planned for this, and may know about Torchwood/the Secret Congress/UNIT/Shadow Directorate or other such agencies. He could have sufficient ability to deter overt action, in the "kill me and a few kilos of anti-matter get released" mould, or something more subtle.
• 
  

Then there's explaining his disappearance for a few years; modern governments are very fond of record keeping (and taxes) but this is offset by their reliance on computer records that should be vulnerable to intrusion with advanced technology.

Perhaps a George becomes a freelancer (like Mickey and Martha), a consultant on alien affairs to governments, or assists UNIT. Or sets up a company or organisation to introduce advanced technology to Earth.

• In The Stolen Earth, a Mr Copper Foundation developed the sub-wave communication network used by Harriet Jones, it's possible that that this organisation was founded by a certain retired alien.

If the PCs are associated with UNIT they may find a returned George through his actions; perhaps a company has started selling slightly too advanced technology (for example integrated circuits) without apparently the necessary facilities, someone's dumping large quantities of gold (or platinum, radium, iridium...) on the market without an obvious source (and maybe with an isotope ratio suggesting extra-Terrestrial origin) or someone's blackmailing DeBeers with kilos of synthetic gemstones....

[jay042]

As for Sto's fascination with the Earth, maybe it's a cross between the Thermians in Galaxy Quest and the Iotians from the Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action". They have been receiving TV and radio signals from us, which have influenced their world over the years, but it's only been bits and pieces with no real context or understanding. The rather dubious study of Earthonomics probably grew out of that lack of understanding.

[Catsmate]

Oct 8, 2014 21:43:41 GMT jay042 said:

As for Sto's fascination with the Earth, maybe it's a cross between the Thermians in Galaxy Quest and the Iotians from the Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action". They have been receiving TV and radio signals from us, which have influenced their world over the years, but it's only been bits and pieces with no real context or understanding. The rather dubious study of Earthonomics probably grew out of that lack of understanding.

Perhaps that's what started the whole craze, followed up by a few probes or recon missions? Sto'd have to be relatively close to Earth then, of course.
How much could you really learn about Earth without long term interaction?

That said, I'm dubious about the viability of picking up accidental radio emissions at any significant distance due to the inverse-square law.
However it's a good bit of backstory, perhaps Sto had a multi-square kilometre radio telescope in space.

[jay042]

Maybe there was some wormhole or other spatial anomaly that helped boost the signal in between Earth and Sto?

[Catsmate]

Oct 9, 2014 13:05:05 GMT jay042 said:

Maybe there was some wormhole or other spatial anomaly that helped boost the signal in between Earth and Sto?

Very possible in the Whoniverse. In fact one of the deep-space probes (referred to in various 3rd/4th Doctor episodes) could have been lost that way also.

It's difficult to estimate the level of technology of Sto; the obviously have interstellar travel and transmate capability, so TL6 at least, perhaps TL7.