Low-worlders hail from planets that have never discovered the secrets of faster-than-light travel, planets from which the rest of the universe seems unknown and out of reach. The technology level of these planets range from as primitive as spears and bone tools, to as advanced as modern Earth. However, without the innovation of faster-than-light travel or the intervention of a galactic faction, the peoples of these planets will never join the galactic community.
Low-worlders find themselves far from home through a variety of different means. Sometimes, their journeys are purposeful, a planet's first rocketborne steps to the stars above, but most often low-worlders stumble into the wider universe by sheer accident. Mishaps with powerful dimensional or teleportation magic, abductions, and stowing away on visiting spacecraft are all common stories among low-worlders.
Universally, low-worlders are foreigners in the 'verse, discombobulated for several years as they learn the basics of their new surroundings. The dizzying array of races baffles them and the mundane prevalence of spacecraft and other technology astounds them. Despite their naivety with technology and galactic culture, low-worlders often possess finely honed skills forgotten by much of the wider 'verse: you can find no better tracker, fletcher, cobbler, or blacksmith than those from the low worlds.
- Skill Proficiencies: Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Tool Proficiencies: One set of artisan's tools and one type of gaming set
- Equipment: Equipment: A token of your homeworld, a set of common clothes, a container holding currency from your homeworld (worth 0 gp)
You can use the following tables to decide on the technology level of the world from which you originated and to determine how you left it. More information on how to build a world can be found in Appendix A.
I come from a world whose greatest technology is ___.
- Spears and fire
- Archery, agriculture, and alchemy
- Walled cities and high magic
- Cannons and sailing ships
- Firearms and motor vehicles
- Computers and rudimentary spaceflight
How I Left
Technology:
- I stowed away on a spaceship that visited (or crashlanded on) my planet.
- I left through a terrible mishap with a powerful teleportation spell.
- I was abducted.
- I left aboard a rudimentary spacecraft which then slipped through a wormhole.
- I never left; rather, I traveled in time.
- I escaped my planet moments before its destruction.
You have a kinship with other low-worlders, especially in the rare cases that you meet someone from your homeworld. Other low-worlders will take a liking to you and will generally honor one reasonable favor you ask, as long as a similar favor is returned later.
Suggested Characteristics
Suggested Characteristics
Low-worlders are as diverse as the worlds they hail from, but all are strangers to the 'verse. Each of them, however, knows that their position is utterly unique; they are among the very few from their world to have stepped out among the stars, a fact they will likely wear with pride, even as they are confused and awe-struck by their new setting.
Personality Trait
- I constantly make jokes and pop-culture references to things from my own world.
- I try my best to understand the technology of the 'verse, but I'm constantly out of my depth. I'm alternately convinced that my experiences in the 'verse are just a long, convincing nightmare, or evidence of my own insanity.
- Most things must be put in very simple terms for me.
- I speak with a rustic accent that is almost unintelligible outside my planet.
- I still wear whatever I wore when I left my planet.
- I'm as arrogant as physically possible.
- I'm the best in the 'verse at a highly practical skill, such as hunting or hand-to-hand combat.
Ideal
- Freedom. Now that I've tasted the freedom of space, I’ll never return home. (Neutral)
- Tyranny. I will return to my homeworld with advanced technology and conquer it. (Evil)
- Adventure. I want to experience everything the 'verse has to offer. (Chaotic)
- Protection. I can't let innocents come to harm. (Good)
- Getting By. I just want to make a buck and eventually retire. (Neutral)
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Exploration. There's a wide-open universe to see!
(Neutral)
Bond
- I must search the 'verse to find my home.
- If I cannot find the solution to a pandemic on my homeworld, my people will go extinct.
- I hope to find a long-lost family member among the stars.
- I aim to prove my skills in combat across the 'verse.
- I aim to seduce my way across the 'verse.
- I want to find a place where I truly belong.
Flaw
- I don't believe that vect are any more alive than toasters are.
- I'm addicted to multiple exotic substances not found on my home planet.
- I refuse to use certain types of technology I see as unethical or heretical.
- I harbor an unshakable contempt for the galactic factions and spacers in general.
- I barely have a sense of the galactic currency.
- I have an almost hilarious disregard for the safety of others.
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