                                Star Wars 

                           Wizard's RPG Stories

          source : http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/newsarchive
          upload : 10.IV.2006


     Trammel's Move

     Scenario Supplement for Dorumaa's Children

     By Morrie Mullins

     Former Living Force Plot Director and Campaign Designer

     Sure, maybe street-smart Blackie doesn't wash much, and maybe  he's  keen
on guns and knives, and maybe he babbles crazy theories all day, but he's  got
something to say about Rufus Trammel. It seems Trammel's leaving Cularin.  Who
might fill his shoes? This supplement to the Living Force campaign  ties  into
the December scenario, Dorumaa's Children.

     Questions. S'always questions, and not lotsa answers. See,  people  don't
come around here much. Don't get me wrong; we get our share of the  adventure-
seeking do-gooder types. Some of them - - some of youse, I guess - -  like  to
prowl places like this, looking around for trouble they can  stop.  Thing  is,
what you look at to be trouble, we just see as how life goes. What  your  kind
sees as things what  need  fixing,  my  kind  sees  as  another  day,  another
kilocred.

     S'all about how you look at the world. Worlds, I  guess.  I  never  lived
nowhere else but right here on Tolea Biqua, so it don't much matter to me that
there's other worlds out there. I mean, I travel, but when you got ships  like
we got ships in Cularin, traveling is just stepping into  a  big  box  in  one
place and stepping out of that big box somewheres else. Sure, you got a  pilot
telling you that you're on a different city, or a different planet,  or  maybe
he's saying you're in Coruscant or whatnot - - but how do  you  know?  Man,  I
tell you what: If all you ever got to judge whether you really gone one  place
or another is some pilot who don't know the pointy end of a blaster, how d'you
know you aren't just sitting in some chair somewhere with a big mask  on  your
face while someone plays holovids for you all day?

     Hey. It's a theory. Just ask, I got millions of 'em.

     Name's Blackie. I'm kind of one of the folks people like you  don't  look
at much. I don't go in much for grooming. Not a huge fan of showers. Kinda dig
on having big guns that I sleep with, and big knives that I stick in my boots,
and if I ever find me a thermal detonator, I'll probably put it in  a  display
case just so's people know I have it. I had a friend once, blew up a guy  with
a thermal detonator. Accident, even. So everyone assumes, "Valdo's got a  line
on TDs," and they went and caught him after he'd been  through  a  scan  where
they knew he didn't have no explosives on him and they blasted  him  until  he
weren't nothing but char. Ironic thing is, that was the only  detonator  Valdo
ever had. Killed one guy with it, not even someone he particularly  wanted  to
kill, and it got him put on about forty different hit lists. I figure,  having
one isn't such a bad thing, since then everybody who thinks about messing with
you's got to think, "Is Blackie gonna use the detonator on me or  my  family?"
But using it, actually making yourself a threat - - that's  something  that  I
ain't too wild about.

     You watch the way folks move when they're outside the law, you see this a
lot. Some types use real pain and real hurting to get things done. Old Riboga,
he was like that. Or she. You always hear people talk about Riboga as a "him,"
but I ain't so sure. You hear stories, sometimes.

     I digress. So there's some what use real  pain  and  real  violence,  and
others who just talk like they're going to hurt folks until someone gets  hurt
first. This is more Nirama's style, though he'd probably kill  me  for  saying
it, since if I make him sound weak, then that  may  get  some  of  his  people
killed, and he'll have to go and kill me to show  that  he's  not  weak,  even
though he wouldn't have killed me if I hadn't shot my mouth off. Unless you do
something to hurt some folks, they stay out of the way and do their own thing.

     I ain't figured out Trammel. Old Rufus, he's been here a while now. Going
on two years, I guess. He came in and there was all this  hoopla  and  worries
about whether he'd be trying to take control of the system from Nirama. Turned
out to be just that. Hoopla and worries. Didn't never worry  Nirama,  near  as
any of us could tell. There was some skirmishing, but never a  war  like  some
folks thought. Nirama, he had better things to do with his people, and Trammel
- - well, we never have figured out what he's up to. I heard  word  that  he's
got a boss from outside the system what may be coming this way - -  Chevin  by
the name of Phylus Mon. Tell you what: Mon shows up, I'm moving. I don't  care
what all it takes, Mon's nothing but bad news. Trammel, he moves exotics  like
nobody's business. Mon's a slaver, pure and simple, and if he shows  his  face
around here, you can bet that Nirama's going to  open  up  with  about  40,000
turbolasers right on that crusty Chevin snout.

     I dunno. Any luck at all and Mon stays away, then we don't have to  worry
about that  kind  of  political  warfare  foolishness.  Summary  of  Dorumaa's
Children Two years ago, the last of the Leviathans of Dorumaa gave birth to  a
pair of calves. These two giant children have played  in  the  oceans  of  the
moon, attracting a great deal of attention. (Some of  it,  from  a  man  named
Rufus Trammel, they could have done without.) Now, one of the calves has  gone
missing, and the other is beside itself with misery. Can the heroes of Cularin
find the missing calf?

     Trammel's people have been more of a problem than the man himself.  Folks
don't even know if he was in Cularin when the Blink happened,  or  if  he  was
somewhere else and is ten years older and being wheeled everywhere he goes. He
never was much for public appearances. Kinda like Nirama  in  that,  I  guess.
Neither of them thinks much to go out in public when there's plenty  of  folks
who might like to do 'em harm. Right or wrong, that's how people feel.

     Me, I'm not big on taking down crime lords. There's  enough  little  guys
like me running around and getting killed to make  other  folks  rich  that  I
don't much see the point to it. The skirmishes we  had  weren't  even  because
Trammel or Nirama wanted them - - at least, that's word on  the  street.  Just
folks who ran into each other and  saw  that  they  were  different,  so  they
started in with killing.

     See, I don't get that. It's one thing to be dumb 'cause you're ordered to
be dumb. But being dumb just because someone else might like it  if  you  were
dumb, and then getting dead because you wanted to be dumb for someone else?

     Galaxy's probably a better place without that type anyway. Just hope they
didn't spawn before they got dumb and dead. My  luck?  They  probably  did.  I
can't even get a date, and the mental invalids who start fights that get  them
killed spawn left and right.

     I got a theory that there's this inverse link between street  smarts  and
spawning. See, folks who got no street smarts end up in  one  of  two  places.
They either end up in big offices where they don't have to be  streetwise,  or
they end up dead in a gutter. Now, those two kinds,  they  spawn  lots.  Kinda
depressing, how much. So you get little street-morons  running  all  over  the
place. The folks who're really street-smart, though, we don't  spawn  a  whole
lot. We got other things we need to do. Surviving on  the  streets,  for  one.
That's the main one.

     Like I said. It's a theory. I ain't worked out all the details just yet.

     So anyway, Trammel. He stays under folks' radar,  but  I  dunno  if  that
means he ain't done much. He's not - - what's  the  word?  "Inconspicuous"?  I
think that's it - - in the same way Nirama is. Trammel, you  hear  about,  and
he's always got something going on. Right now, things are getting strange.

     See, Trammel's packing up. That's what I hear, at least. I dunno if  it's
because Mon may be  coming  (the  Chevin  makes  Trammel  look  like  a  major
lightweight; Hutts give Mon a pretty  big  berth),  or  something  else.  Sith
knows, there's lots of problems around Cularin, and even with all the  exotics
and weird things we've got to export that he could be stealing,  there's  only
so much risk the man can take. Whatever he was trying to do  to  Nirama  don't
look like it worked, so I can't say I'm too surprised he's up and  going.  But
you'd think he'd make a big deal out of it, like he did when he came here.

     He ain't, though. It's real quiet. I had to go and check on it  a  second
time, just to be sure I heard right. Second source said yes, so I  went  to  a
third. Took some digging each time, but all the answers came back the same.

     The thing with power like Trammel brought and like Nirama has is  there's
only so much to go around. It's like you got Cularin, and  all  the  power  in
Cularin's a pie. So when there's just Nirama around, he's  got  a  big  sloppy
piece of pie that's dribbling juice all over everything. Then  Trammel  comes,
and Nirama's mad 'cause his pie's getting smaller, and  there  ain't  so  much
juice to dribble, and maybe Trammel takes some of the good bits of crust  -  -
but there's still pie there, and they both got pieces.

     See, though, when people leave who got power, they take pie with them. So
there's a gap where some of the pie used to be.  And  maybe  Nirama  takes  it
back, or maybe someone else does.

     I dunno. I guess all I'm saying is this:  If  Trammel's  really  leaving,
then something's gotta happen in Cularin. Or maybe it  already  has.  But  you
mark me good. Change ain't never a happy thing.