Character Creation

Characters

Pretty much any actor in AdEva Conspiracy, whether they be NPC, PC, Evangelion or Angel are referred to as 'characters'. Characters possess score lines, wounds, traits and other areas, which we'll discuss here.

All characters are divided into one of four tiers which determines their general importance and mechanical effect in the game. Most characters act in the same way, but there are some differences between the tiers, namely around wounds and fate points.

  • Minor Characters are nameless NPCs, mooks, angelspawn- even though they may have their own lives, their importance to the story and the effect they can have is expected to be small. Minors possess one wound- if they lose it, they either die or are rendered unable to act. They may not Combo their attacks.
  • Elite Characters are more hefty, influential and important than Minors. A veteran sergeant, an accomplished scientist, a powerful politician who keeps meddling with Nerv or a powerful and large Angelspawn can all be Elites. Elites possess at least 1 Injury Point (or more as the GM decides) and have TB wounds. They can combo attacks.
  • Hero Characters are the most important in the story, and automatically include all the PCs, as well as highly powerful allies such as fellow Eva pilots. Heroes always possess at least 3 Injury Points, have TB wounds, and start with 2 Fate Points and can combo attacks.
  • Titanic Characters are special categories relevant only for Evangelions and Angels. They have many of their own special rules, but unless specified elsewhere, act like Heroes, with the exception that they have separate pools of wounds for every part of their body.

-- Back to Top --

Creating a Character

Characters in AdEva: Conspiracy are generated over a series of steps: firstly they choose one Origin and sub-Origin, followed by their starting Role. Secondly, they generate their final Score line. Thirdly they generate their Vitals. Fourthly they design their Aspects and may take a Drawback. Fifthly, they generate an Evangelion. Finally, they pick their starting Role and their starting Skills.

Setup: Starting Scores

There are eight Scores in Conspiracy, which represent your character's fundamental abilities. The eight scores are:

  • Martial. Determines your melee accuracy, parrying ability and how many Burst attacks you make with melee weapons.
  • Senses. Determines your awareness of your surroundings, your ability to predict incoming ranged attacks and ability with ranged weapons. Senses Bonus (SB) can be used for your initiative.
  • Strength. Determines your sheer physical strength, carrying capacity and damage with melee weapons. You add your Strength Bonus (SB) to the damage you deal with melee attacks.
  • Toughness. Determines your physical resilience, carrying capacity, and resistance to fatigue and injury. You reduce all incoming physical damage by your Toughness Bonus (TB), which also determines your Stress max.
  • Agility. Determines your speed and grace, your initiative, and is used for many skills related to movement, carefulness, avoiding damage and stealth. Agility Bonus (AB) determines your base speed and can be used for your initiative.
  • Intellect. Determines your character's cognitive and memory abilities, and is used for many skills related to knowledge, problem-solving, and analysing or predicting the enemy. Intellect Bonus (IB) can be used for your initiative.
  • Will. Determines your character's ability to control their own actions and resist fear and compulsion. You determine your Trauma max by your Will Bonus (WB).
  • Fellowship. Determines your character's ability to interact with others, either as a leader or as an equal, and is used for many social skills. You can use social skills on a number of people at once equal to your Fellowship Bonus (FB).
  • AT Field. Determines your character's strength with the AT Field, mainly as a register of their synchronisation with their Evangelion; this makes their connection more powerful and their AT Field stronger. AT Bonus (ATB) is used to determine the base power of many AT Field abilities.

Characters start with 25 in every Score. Non-piloting characters, including Directors, do not possess an AT Field score.
-- Back to Top --

Aptitudes and Advances

Advances
The protagonist characters of Conspiracy grow and change over time, developing new abilities in skills through their experiences. In this game, these are known as Advances: an advance is anything that upgrades your character, improving their capabilities. There are four types of advances: Score Advances, Talents, Skills and Traits.

  • Score Advances increase your Scores permanently. You may normally advance a score three times, adding a +5 each time (for a total of +15). If you possess an Aptitude that matches that score then you can advance it a fourth and fifth time (for a total of +25).
  • Talents unlock special actions or advantages for you in certain situations.
  • Skills represent your character's specialised training and knowledge, and provide bonuses to tests involving the skill.
  • Traits are deep, inherent abilities or qualities specific to your character. Traits are hard to obtain and doing so often changes your character in a permanent and drastic way.

Characters start the game with the following: Literacy, and Lore (Home Country). On top of this, they may gain five free different skills of their choice, which may only be chosen from skills with which they share at least one aptitude.

  • Skills: Literacy, and Lore (Home Country). On top of this, they pick three focuses in three different skills with which they have aptitudes that match it; and finally may gain one focus in any skill of their choice without restriction.
  • Traits: The Language (English, plus other languages that would make sense for your character or background, although more than 2 extra would be rare) traits.

Talents: Evangelion pilots start with the 'Base AT Field' talent. Directors start with a single talent of their choice that they meet the prerequisites for.

Aptitudes
Aptitudes are qualities that a character possesses that reflect that some abilities are easier to learn than others. Every advance has one or two Aptitudes associated with them, and if they match with an aptitude that the character possesses, then that advance is easier to learn.

Advances in AdEva Conspiracy are gained during Downtimes. In Downtimes, all characters are given 'Actions', with which they can spend on various resources. Two of these actions can be spent on Advances:

  • Wild Card Actions, which can be spent on any advance the character meets the prerequisites for, or any other action they desire
  • Development Actions, which can be spent on any advance the character meets the prerequisites for, so long as the character shares at least one aptitude with the action.

Aptitudes are divided into two groups: Base Aptitudes and Advanced Aptitudes. Base Aptitudes are decided at the start of the game with Origins, and never change; Advanced Aptitudes are provided by your current Role and change with the Role you have equipped.

Basic Aptitudes Description
General Advances with this Aptitude are simple or easy to learn, accessible to just about everyone. For this reason, everyone is treated as having the General Aptitude.
Martial This aptitude corresponds to the Martial score.
Senses This aptitude corresponds to the Senses score.
Strength This aptitude corresponds to the Strength score.
Agility This aptitude corresponds to the Agility score.
Intellect This aptitude corresponds to the Intellect score.
Willpower This aptitude corresponds to the Will score.
Fellowship This aptitude corresponds to the Fellowship score.
AT Field This aptitude corresponds to the AT Field score.
Advanced Aptitudes Description
Melee This aptitude is focused on close-range combat using hand-weapons and hand-to-hand techniques.
Ranged This aptitude deals with long-range combat and experience with firearms.
Defense This aptitude is focused on avoiding physical damage.
Finesse This aptitude handles fine motor skills and delicate activities.
Knowledge Knowledge deals with formal learning, technical information, science and academia.
Fieldcraft This aptitude corresponds to practical applications of knowledge, resourcefulness and using the environment.
Resolve Resolve is focused on imposing authority on others and resisting the non-physical effects of others.
Social Social deals with understanding and manipulating other human beings.

A Breakdown of Advances

As noted, Advances fall into four categories: Scores, Talents, Skills and Traits.

Score Advances improve a chosen Score. Every Score has four ranks of Advances (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), and each improves the Score permanently by +5. You can only go to the 4th rank of a Score Advance unless you have the matching Basic Aptitude. Each Score only has one Aptitude: the same one it shares a name with (so the Martial score has the Martial aptitude).

Talent Advances give you talents, which provide circumstantial benefits. Each talent has one or two aptitudes, and almost always have prerequisites that you must meet before you can take the talent, such as having a certain Score at a certain level, or ranks in a certain skill or skill focus. You can learn more in the link provided.

Skill Advances measure your character's abilities in a specific avenue of activity. Skills reflect the training and experience your character has in a certain discipline or field, such as research, analysing a scene or persuading others. Greater experience and ability in skills allow your characters to specialise in ways to overcome obstacles and explore the world. You can learn more in the link provided.

  • Every skill is tied to a score, and when you make a test with that skill, you test that score. However, your training in the skill can provide bonuses. Every skill breaks down into several focuses, and if you can sell the idea that your test involves that focus, you get an extra +10 to your test for each rank you have in that focus.
  • If you have no ranks in that skill at all, you take a -20 penalty.
  • You can take up to five ranks in a skill, and with each rank you can either take a new focus or double up on an old one. However, the fourth and fifth skill ranks of every skill are 'locked', and can't be purchased unless you meet a certain requirement, such as having a talent or a trait that unlocks it. Once you have three ranks in a skill, you take a +10 bonus to all tests with that skill regardless of focus.

Trait Advances are special- they can only be taken in certain circumstances. Normally you can't take traits and need permission from the GM to do so. You can learn more in the link provided.

Arts are not strictly an advance- they're special battle maneuvers you can unlock by having the right combination of equipment, skills and circumstances.

-- Back to Top --

Choosing an Origin

Origins are the first step in character creation and one of the most important. Origins are broad archetypes that reflect your character's upbringing and heritage. They suggest a certain lifestyle lived before the character joined Nerv, and informs how they react and act in situations.

AdEva: Conspiracy features a great deal of devastating and dangerous combat on a huge scale, but it also features a great deal of investigation, intrigue and scheming, both aimed at the players but also by the players at the world around them, including Nerv. This of courses leads to the obvious observation:

"But how do you expect the characters to investigate on their own, especially against such powerful groups? The characters are children, with no special training or the powers needed to investigate without major consequences such as death."

The four Origins in AdEva: Conspiracy each suggest something about their background and how they have lived their lives so far, but it also takes that previous statement and disproves it in its own way.

  • Prodigies are marked by a natural talent that makes them gifted at piloting an Eva and investigating, although this will often surprise people, especially the Prodigy themselves. Prodigies are usually civilians who have lived otherwise ordinary lives. They disprove the statement by saying actually, I do have a special power!.
  • Aces have extensive, specialised training to make them into elite operatives, capable of shocking and incredible feats both in and out of an Eva. Their lives are marked by training regimen and hierarchy, and many have been raised in special organisations as part of a child-to-pilot pipeline. They disprove the above statement by saying actually, I do have special training!
  • Biosynthetics are artificial, manufactured human beings, often the product of esoteric science such as cloning or genetic manipulation. Such expertise is almost never found outside of the Nerv umbrella, and so Biosynthetics often have strange quirks. Inevitably, Biosynthetics are designed essentially from scratch and are made-to-order in some way, and so disprove the statement above by saying actually, death isn't a major consequence!.
  • Directors are command staff, employed by Nerv in a position of power and influence. Trained to lead operations for the Eva Squad as well as organise Nerv's defenses and resources, they don't pilot Evangelions but instead direct the action from HQ. Experienced adults who inevitably have some degree of sway and influence, they disprove the above statement by saying actually, I'm an adult!

The first three Origins- Prodigies, Aces and Biosynthetics- provide you with the following:

  • Four Base Aptitudes to choose from, from which you must choose two; Base Aptitudes determine the cost of Score improvement and some talents.
  • Modifications to a Score.
  • A special Trait that grants certain bonuses.
  • A Favoured Evangelion Feature, which allows the pilot to take those specific features instead of rolling randomly.

Directors don't pilot Evangelions (and so don’t have a Favoured Evangelion feature), but instead take on a command role, supporting the Evas in defeating Angels by marshalling the base's defenses. Instead of generating an Eva, they generate the Nerv base they run.

Furthermore, each Origin has a selection of three Sub-Origins which adds distinctiveness and nuance to your Origin. At creation you choose one of these Sub-Origins. Each Sub-Origin provides the following:

  • Two Base Aptitudes to choose from, from which you must choose one. Alternatively, you can choose two, but sacrifice one of the Aptitude from your main Origin in its place.
  • A special Trait that grants certain bonuses.

-- Back to Top --

Origin: The Prodigy

Prodigies are determined by having some kind of remarkable, natural talent. Natural intelligence, undeniable charm, or a strange bond with an Evangelion… The Prodigy has a special gift or power that sets them apart from the others. This means that of all of the Origins, the Prodigies need training or grooming the least- meaning that they are, almost as a rule, civilians who are recruited by Nerv far later than pilots of other Origins.

The divide between Nerv and civilian life is wide and treacherous, and not everyone is suited for it. Nerv is fully aware of this; those who end up 'deciding' to join Nerv are known to the organisation far longer than Nerv is fully known to them, and their path to Nerv is one gently nudged and shaped over time.

Or, occasionally, bludgeoned into place with brutality. For when it comes to finding suitable Evangelion pilots, all bets are off. Finding candidates capable of synchronising with an Eva is a taxing job primarily because they're so rare. This is a major reason why Nerv puts so much of its energy into alternative piloting schemes such as training young children over years for the task, or genetically engineering human beings designed to pilot over everything else. But occasionally, there will be an individual from the general population identified as having the quality necessary to pilot (a quality only vaguely understood to most in Nerv and not at all to the pilot themselves). Nerv are usually aware of this individual for a great deal of time before they ever enter an Entry Plug. Depending on the situation, this prodigious civilian might end up having their life socially engineered by Nerv to funnel them 'naturally' toward piloting, or simply drafted one day, possibly at gunpoint.

Prodigies often take some time to adjust to Nerv's culture, if indeed they ever do. This is only ever reinforced by their relative inexperience regarding practical combat skills, which they need to learn on the fly. However, Prodigies often shine in other ways, having a more normal, socialised upbringing and a strange, some say fated connection with the Evangelions, one sometimes stronger than their more well-trained peers. Prodigies may sometimes, through sheer stubbornness, benign foolishness or some greater force, perform incredible acts- acts that might very well decide the fate of humanity.

Aptitudes (Pick two) Intellect, Will, Fellowship, AT Field
Ability Bonus +5 to any two of the following, or +10 to one: Intellect, Will, Fellowship, AT Field
Favoured Eva Feature: The pilot may always choose to take the Maternal or Self-Preservative Eva Soul Features at the Evangelion Generation stage.
Origin Trait
Fateful Life You begin play with one extra Fate Point. You may use this Fate Point as normal but you also gain a special use for Fate Points depending on your sub-Origin.

-- Back to Top --

The Genius

Nerv recruits the best and the brightest. In most fields, this tends to be specialists with years of training and study in their chosen field. This is what Nerv finds so frustrating about entrusting the Evas to school children: it's a group of doctors and professors placing their trust in a group of kids who have to worry about flunking calculus.

The Genius is something of the best of both worlds in that case. The Genius doesn't have the formal training or experience of their superiors or even some of their peers, but what they do have is an abundant natural talent that allows them to pick up almost anything quickly. They almost always boast a powerful intellect and equally sharp observation skills that make them the envy of others. Staffers who might be tempted to talk down to pilots will soon find themselves being forced to treat the Genius as an equal.

The true danger from Nerv's perspective is that the Genius may, despite their youth, prove to be too smart. Nerv thinks it can account for anything, especially the weakling human element, but you combine a natural intelligence with an ability to learn and change with shocking rapidity, learning in weeks and months what takes years for others.

The Genius's powerful trait allows them to excel at almost anything, but they're very good at ranged combat and coordination.

Aptitudes (Pick one) Senses, Intellect
Sub-Origin Trait
Vast Talents You gain a Bonus to all tests made against characters whose IB is inferior to your IB, and you always have one extra Development Action to spend during Downtimes.
Fateful Life: 4D Chess You may spend a Fate Point to gain an extra action at any time, which you can spend on an Augment, Defensive or unmarked action; these actions ignore action repetition limits.

-- Back to Top --

The Celebrity

Most of the people Nerv recruits tend to not be individuals who soak up the limelight. Which isn't to say Nerv is staffed with nobodies: Nerv recruits almost exclusively from the best and brightest, and many of its staff are rightly famous in their field. These fields tend to be relatively esoteric, however; most Nerv staff can go out in public and not be identified at all.

Not so much the Celebrity. The Celebrity was famous and well-known before joining Nerv. The how and why varies- maybe you were a movie star with a promising career, or a teen idol, or literal royalty; or for the older individual, an established author, politician, sports star, religious figure or television personality. Simply put, you cannot go out in public without being identified.

This special status is a shield, a weapon and a burden. Being made an Eva pilot is guaranteed to turbo-charge your prestige, and make you extremely visible, which means those who try and target you must be extremely careful. Furthermore, your celebrity status means you have access to resources, connections and soft influence that eludes others. You can overawe or pressure members of the general public, and even some Nerv employees might succumb to your charms. However, your visibility is also a weakness, threatening attempts to go unseen or to act subtly.

This raises certain questions as to why Nerv is recruiting you. It's impossible to hide your association with Nerv without raising major questions and dramatically interfering in your (well-known) life. And recruiting you by force, whilst possible, is also risky. Nerv considers its Eva programme too important to prioritise celebrity influence over competent pilots or staff, which implies that they consider your celebrity a special bonus. This, of course, doesn't really help you, who has to balance been a reknowned figure with your duty of saving the world.

The Celebrity excels at a support role in combat, as its aptitudes lend it toward pursuing morale or leadership Roles. Out of combat, the Celebrity is a superior social agent, overpowering others with their charm and guile.

Aptitudes (Pick one) Agility, Fellowship
Sub-Origin Trait
Star Power You gain a bonus to all tests made against characters whose WB is inferior to your FB. You gain Unnatural Fellowship (+1) every time you gain third rank in a Fellowship skill, to a max of +3.
Fateful Life: Centre of Gravity You may spend a Fate Point to gain an extra Social Action, or alternatively to summon assistance from someone belonging to your Peer focuses or your Bonds; how this assistance manifests and who it is depends on the context.

-- Back to Top --

The Chosen One

The Chosen One is a curious sub-origin, almost contradictory. Out of all of the Origins, the Chosen One is likely to have had the most normal life before joining Nerv, a life indistinguished by immense talent or by celebrity star status. The Chosen One probably has had an ordinary, everyday sort of existence- probably having good grades in some places, and bad grades in others. But at the same time, the Chosen One has an incredible talent: an innate and intimate bond with their Evangelions. This means they are simultaneously both the most normal of origins and the most touched by the Evangelion.

Despite their ordinary background, it's highly unlikely that their connection with the Evangelion is an accident, or if it is, it hasn't gone unnoticed. The Chosen One is likely to have been watched their whole lives, maybe even had that life subtly shaped by Nerv's machinations behind the scenes. The Chosen One's talent is not one that training would shape, so they've been allowed to lie fallow in ordinary life until activated.

All the Prodigies have the ability to synchronise with an Eva at levels that usually require years of training from the other origins, and it is this edge that makes you so favoured by Nerv. Nerv, however, believes that your talent is limited purely to higher synchronisation ratios. They have gravely misjudged the nature of this gift. You will, inevitably, find in the Evangelion a kindred spirit. One that shares your wishes, ambitions and goals. One that speaks to you not as a hated puppeteer, or as a weak child, but as an equal- a partner. One that will work with you and lend you its power.

The Chosen One excels at AT Field backgrounds, but their powerful trait amplifies the Evangelion's monstrous Berserk abilities, meaning that they also excel by pursuing roles that improve the Evangelion's martial power.

Aptitudes (Pick one) AT Field, Will
Sub-Origin Trait
Made for Each Other You may pick and choose which Quirks you get, although you roll to see whether a Quirk is good or bad like everyone else. Furthermore, you start off with a Level-three or Level-four Companion Bond (your choice) with your Evangelion. You know the Evangelion's agenda from the start, and it is one that is compatible with your own, either wanting to make your desires a reality, or simply being fellow travelers. Finally, whenever an Evangelion goes Berserk, you retain full awareness and can control its actions, even when unconscious… But no one else is aware of this, simply attributing it to the Evangelion's behaviour.
Fateful Life: Deus Ex Machina When your Evangelion is Berserk, you double the benefits of the Bonus, Restore Wounds, Remove Ailment, Block Injury, Ignore Condition and Surge uses of Fate Points.

-- Back to Top --

Origin: The Neospartan

The Evangelion is a notoriously difficult weapon to operate. It is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon ever made, but apart from the staggering costs, the Eva is extremely fussy about who it'll let pilot it. This means that crewing Evas isn't like crewing, say, a tank- almost anyone can learn to drive a tank, meaning you are free to select only the very best. When it comes to the Eva, however, the pool of viable candidates is tiny. That means that sometimes Nerv has to settle for a pilot who would never be qualified to control an Eva except for the fact they, inexplicably, can.

All of this, put together, makes the Neospartan an invaluable asset to Nerv. A Neospartan, for our purposes, is an individual with great combat or military experience. They know how to shoot a gun and throw a punch well. They understand at least basic combat tactics and how to read a battlefield, and they keep their cool in a fight. Considering that the Evangelion's main piloting demographic sits between 13 and 17, these skills are rare and in extremely high demand. Any organisation that fields Evas would be lucky to have even one such pilot.

Which is why Nerv makes its own luck. Neospartans are rarely the result of happenstance. Neospartans are made, often in secret programs that take in the unwanted, the orphan and the forgotten- the ones no one will look for- and shapes them to be the perfect warrior for humanity's greatest weapon. The quintessential programme is the eponymous 'Neospartan Programme'. However, Neospartans might not have been trained by Nerv at all. Many countries took the chaos of Second Impact for their own ends with their own super soldier programmes, and more than a few made some attempt to create their own analogue of an Eva before the UN shut them down.

Neospartans, then, are often deeply indoctrinated into Nerv's structure, or at least the structure of their training organisation. They might have the full range of human passions and dreams, but those things have been shaped by the crucible in which they've been forged, meaning their lives have had little in common with others their age, including, often, their fellow pilots. This means that Neospartans can often butt heads and struggle with their comrades from other origins, who often expect entirely alien things of them.

Regardless, what sets the Neospartan apart from the others is being able to draw on training and skills that are beyond the grasp of other Origins. More than that, the Neospartan often has been practicing these skills for most of their lives and from a young age, meaning they can equal or surpass adults with ease. They are excellent combat specialists, but also are natural at espionage, sabotage and other spec ops.

Aptitudes (Pick two) Martial, Senses, Will, Agility
Ability Bonus +5 to any two of the following, or +10 to one: Martial, Senses, Strength, Agility
Favoured Eva Feature The pilot may always choose to take the National Icon or UN Designed Eva History Features at the Evangelion Generation stage.
Origin Trait
Know Thyself At the end of each Crisis, you master a second Exemplary, which may be taken from specific Roles depending on the Sub-Origin. You do not need to have this Exemplary equipped.

-- Back to Top --

The Hetairos

The Hetairos is the classic elite Neospartan. Usually, they are children scouted by Nerv for Eva compatibility. For whatever reason, Nerv- or rather, Nerv's predecessor organisation, Gehirn- decided that these children were good candidates for a gruelling, unethical military program designed around turning innocent children into killing machines. Often they are orphans, but it isn't unknown for Neospartans to be taken for political reasons, prior connections to Nerv or for some other, darker ulterior motive.

Each Neospartan has the 'benefit' of being in a program designed for compatibility with the Evangelion. Every firearm Gehirn prototyped would be tested through them, with the trainees familiarising themselves and giving feedback as needed. Eva paraphernalia such as the umbilical cable or the supply ports would've been scrutinised by trainees, who would drill heavily for its use to avoid simple but costly mistakes. Doctrines and tactics around the Eva would've been designed for these pilots in mind, and finally these pilots would've been subjected to tests within Eva simulators and virtual Entry Plugs before they started learning their times tables. Limited genetic and surgical enhancements would have been enacted to ensure the perfect soldier.

From these crop, there are those who excel beyond all others. These are the Hetairoi, the Companions, named after the elite knights of Alexander the Great. Talented warriors, almost without equal despite their young ages, and ready to be placed into the Evangelion. The greatest fighting machine with the greatest pilots. In fact, with their prodigious, commando-like abilities, these soldiers would make valuable assets even without an Evangelion- a fact not lost on Nerv or the UN, especially when one considers that there are more Hetairoi than there are Evangelions for them to ride.

The question remains: why would Nerv ever use pilots besides you and your Companions? It's a good question, and anyone with the answer hasn't seen fit to give it to you. You may have been chosen to pilot, but those within Nerv are uncomfortably aware of your companions, a cadre of elite supersoldiers sitting restless, waiting for their promised role to be fulfilled.

The Hetairos excels at most forms of combat. They generally lean towards offensive combat, due to their phenomenal skill with weapons of all kinds. Off the battlefield, the Hetairos can rely on their prodigious physical skill set for subterfuge, stealth and detection.

Aptitudes (Pick one) AT Field, Toughness
Sub-Origin Trait
Go Beyond Select two skills with the Melee, Ballistic, Strength, Defense, Resolve or AT Field aptitudes; you begin with both bonus ranks in those skills unlocked and filled with focuses of your choice. Once per round, you may reroll a test made in a skill you have at least 3 ranks or more in (different focuses are fine).
Know Thyself: Eva Warrior You may draw your second Exemplary from any Role from the Melee, Ranged, Eva or AT Field categories.

-- Back to Top --

The Lictor

Nerv needs pilots, and it needs good pilots. Pilots who can control an Eva and do it whilst also having the skills to put an Angel in the ground. This is what programs such as the Neopartan program exist for. But it also needs those pilots to be loyal, devoted and to stay in their lane. It does not need pilots who go off on their own, backchat orders, or get funny ideas about what their Evangelions should be used for. The Neospartan programme used many forms of indoctrination and conditioning to ensure obedience in its pilots (without causing such complications that it harmed their value as pilots, of course…), and one of them was the Lictor. A Lictor is a term derived from Ancient Rome, where they were bodyguards of dignitaries; symbols of the power of the state, Lictors were empowered to make arrests on behalf of their superiors. And so the Neospartan chose some of its candidates to be Lictors, who would be trained like other pilots, but also be trained to spy on their comrades, report their actions, and identify the unworthy and seditious.

Like many forms of the Neospartan programme, the Lictors began to drift in their role. As the Neospartans matured, their training became increasingly complex and involved. Actually monitoring them became correspondingly more complicated, with the Lictors learning broader skills to compensate. In order to sell this, they were explained as receiving specialist training in case anyone wished to harm the Neospartans through less honourable means- the Lictors could ferret them out. However, this raised a very real question: what if the cover story was actually true, and the Lictors had simply been bundled into the programme because Gehirn wished to train its own elite group of spies? There was precious little oversight over the programme, after all, and what oversight the UN imposed on it was unofficial… Secret. Simply put, UN agents began recruiting the Lictors themselves to spy on the programme as a whole. The only thing keeping the Lictors in check was what their Gehirn instructors would teach them- and so many Lictors were taught 'bonus' skills by the UN.

There is evidence to believe that the UN was far from alone in doing this. The Lictors were a Who-Watches-the-Watchmen problem writ large, courted and used by various groups, all giving them special training and equipment to spy on everyone else. Just about every Lictor has some experience of being a double agent, of gathering secret information, spreading misinformation, and maybe even shadier, darker acts.

How you learned your skills is up to you. The favoured option here is that Nerv doesn't know you have them- because you weren't taught them by Nerv. You've been recruited by another organisation, trained by them as a double agent sent to infiltrate Nerv for some secret purpose. Nerv will still use you to monitor your fellow pilots, of course- that's your purpose. Regardless, there is someone, somewhere, who thinks they're using you, but doesn't realise that you know how to use them right back.

Compared to the Hetairos, the Lictor tends to excel at more ranged combat, scouting and awareness. Outside of battle, Lictors excel at information gathering, able to become prodigious hackers, lockpickers and demolitions experts. Most notably, however, is their ability to exploit the psychological weaknesses of their foes.

Aptitudes (Pick one) Senses, Intellect
Sub-Origin Trait
Know Thy Enemy When performing Opposed Tests against targets whom you know all of their Aspects, you gain a bonus to your test. If the target is suffering from a Broken Aspect and you know all of their aspects, you may also reroll all of your opposed tests.
Know Thyself: Infiltrator You may draw your second Exemplary from any Role from the Operative category, or any Role that has the Ranged or Finesse Aptitude.

-- Back to Top --

The Diadochos

The thing with supersoldier programmes such as the New Spartans is that ultimately they work, at least for a few candidates, working to produce a clutch of elite soldiers both in and out of the Eva. But coordination and teamwork is an essential part of military strategy, and that requires leadership. Of course, Nerv has its own collection of generals or commanders, but what if you trained commanders alongside the soldiers, using similar principles?

That brings us to that Diadochi. A sister-programme to the New Spartans (hence the stylistic Greek name- 'Diadochos' is Greek for 'Successor', and was the name given to the heirs of Alexander the Great), the Diadochi were intended to be superior squad leaders trained from childhood in Evangelion tactics and to act as a bridge between their fellow pilots and their commanders. Since Eva tactics were grounded in modern strategy, each Diadochos was taught the art of war and command. Although their training was supposed to be focused on the squad level, eager and curious instructors felt they could benefit from constantly scaling up their skills until they became competent staff officers. Some were even embedded in actual military units as observers, kind of like an apprenticeship. Such skills would make them highly useful battlefield leaders, able to read a battlefield and provide both suggestions to their commanders and leadership to their subordinates. However, as the Evangelion Project evolved, it became increasingly obvious that civilian and political considerations would take ever greater importance in its affairs. The Diadochi program experienced a drift in purposes, straying from pure combat roles. Instead they would be expected to be the 'face' of the programme, capable of liaising with politicians, private interests and citizen groups. In addition to being able to speak to soldiers, the Diadochi were taught how to both lead and work with intelligence agencies, governments and corporations. In a way, they became a little like politicians themselves. It was even floated that Nerv would cease recruitment of military officers for its tactical positions and instead recruit surplus Diadochi for the role.

However, an observation put an end to that: advisors of the Diadochi program stated that the average Diadochos was, at this point, just as adept at handling on-field and off-field military matters as they were handling the whims and desires of politicians, bankers and executives. They'd been taught how to direct, lead and inspire others, how to earn their trust, and project an air of gravitas and competence that belied their age. Nowhere was this more noticeable than among the other assets in Nerv, such as the other aces and military personnel. Simply put, where they had started off by training tactically adept field sergeants, the program had drifted, step by step, into producing individuals with the military and social skills required to topple leaders, organisations, even national governments- and remake them in their own image. Giving such individuals control of Nerv's tactical command was unconscionable. Nonetheless, their value as talented Eva squad leaders was still

As a Diadochos, you have the best of both worlds: the ability to combine the power of an Evangelion with leadership skills and tactical acumen, acting kind of like a 'field Director', able to bring your team together into a cohesive whole. Off the battlefield, you excel at planning and coordination, combined with a powerful personality that inspires others to work for you, sometimes against their better judgment.

Aptitudes (Pick One) Intellect, Fellowship
Sub-Origin Trait
Let the Die be Cast At the start of each Crisis and Downtime, select a single skill or action; so long as you may take actions matching it, you and all allies gain a bonus, and you can spend a point of Unnatural Fellowship to add a second bonus to their test. You can spend a point of Unnatural Intelligence as a free action to change the affected action. Whenever you use an Augment action, Disable an Angel or Pass Off a combo, you gain a point of Unnatural Intelligence or Fellowship which lasts until the end of the Crisis or Downtime (max of 4 total).
Know Thyself: Empire Builder You may draw your second Exemplary from any Role from the Leadership or Civil categories.

-- Back to Top --

Origin: Biosynthetic

Every origin is informed in some way, large or small, by how Nerv tries to overcome the problem of Evangelion compatibility. The Biosynthetic is perhaps the most extreme attempt to solve the problem: instead of using training or distant raising techniques to shape a potential pilot, simply skip the middleman and directly make the pilot from scratch to suit the Evangelion. The Biosynthetic is an artificial human, designed from the ground up to exacting genetic templates, using donated materials, or even incorporating Angelic substances or custom-built organs.

Biosynthetics are the result of desperate (if extremelly well-resourced) science designed to build a pilot capable of piloting the Evas and doing it well. But once you unlock the forbidden fruit of genetic manipulation on this scale, it becomes hard to resist 'improving' on humanity in a myriad number of ways. This means that Biosynthetics are a highly diverse bunch, and their (often unusual) appearances can be deceiving. As technology advances, older Biosynthetics might be 'retired' or 'recycled', whilst improved techniques allow for greater efficiency. What efficiency looks like can vary, but it is common for Biosynthetics to have altered growth rates and learning ability. A Biosynthetic might appear to be a teenager, but really only be a few years old. If the designer was compassionate or idealistic enough to think past the war with the Angels, then the Biosynthetic's lifespan might flatten out into a normal one (or a much longer one!) after hitting 'puberty'. But if the designer was lacking in skill or consideration, then the rapid ageing might not stop, meaning a pilot that quickly grows old and dies once they're no longer needed- which some might consider an efficency all of its own. This of course does not need to be a rule, and it's possible for a Biosynthetic to be as old as they really look.

Unlike the other origins, the Biosynthetic has always been a part of Nerv or in some cases, a similar organisation. Thus there is no question as to how they came to join it- Nerv is mother and father both. Instead, the question is how the Biosynthetic views Nerv. It's possible, maybe even likely that the Biosynthetic is implanted with conditioning and other neurological tricks to instill artificial loyalty, but there is always room somewhere for personal feeling. Perhaps the Biosynthetic deep down really is happy with their situation, or perhaps they are intensely curious about the outside world. Perhaps they resent that curiosity going unfulfilled. A lot of this depends on how Nerv treats the Biosynthetic as well, even in little ways such as what types of food they're allowed to eat or entertainment (if indeed they're allowed any at all).

One of the things that defines the Biosynthetic experience is expendability. Indeed, this is the tool that allows these pilots to mess about and get involved in things they shouldn't without suffering major repercussions. When it comes to creating Biosynthetics, a lot of the work is in perfecting the technology and designing the individual; it's relatively cheap to actually create and grow the human once the foundations are complete. Considering Nerv's access to brainwave-copying personality and even the tech needed to quantify and transfer the soul, this means it's a simple matter to ensure that the Biosynthetic has some sort of 'hardware backup', allowing the essence of the pilot to be preserved whilst the unimportant meat is expended.

How Biosynthetics interact with their fellow pilots depends greatly on those pilots' feelings on the very nature of the Biosynthetic. A Civilian might find the Biosynthetic off-putting or unnerving, or alternatively may be fine with it. Aces may feel nettled by how the Biosynthetic is an attempt to mass-produce the skills Aces painstakingly earned, but they may also understand that the Biosynthetic isn't to blame, or view them as a friendly rival.

The Biosynthetic does well in most roles.

Aptitudes (Pick two) Senses, Agility, Toughness, Intellect
Ability Bonus +5 to any two of the following, or +10 to one: Senses, Agility, Toughness, Intellect
Favoured Eva Feature The pilot may always choose to take the Secret Nerv Project Eva History Feature or Vengeful Eva Soul Feature at the Evangelion Generation stage.
Origin Trait
Backups Death is not the end for you. Whenever you die, instead of burning a Fate Point, so long as you have at least 1 Fate Point left, you can spend a Fate Point to avoid death. How you avoid death, specifically, depends on your sub-origin, who all avoid it in a different way outlined in their profiles.

-- Back to Top --

The Transhuman

The Transhuman is a culmination of both ambitious genetic technology and the ever-present desire to improve on the fundamentals of the human template. The Transhuman is genetically modified but to an exceptional degree. Thousands of hours of labour went into the Transhuman, finding the perfect genes from donors or compiling new sequences from scratch in order to match whatever the creators thought would be 'perfect'. Even then, however, the Transhuman is more than 'good genes'. Their organs are improved versions of the sort used by others- more efficient heart, more rugged lungs, quicker muscle growth… The entire physical human experience, optimised. They may even have brand new, customised organs within their bodies.

As time goes on and the Transhuman develops, their 'gifts' shine through, and the edge they have other the rest of humanity quickly widens. Although cognitive functioning is about normal for a human being, physically they end up superior in almost every way, to the point where some might question why the Transhuman needs so many qualities when all it was designed to do was pilot an Eva. Indeed, what use is prodigious strength if the Transhuman has the Eva's power to rely on? The obvious answer is that the Transhuman is meant for more than mere piloting.

Of all the Biosynthetics, the Transhuman is perhaps the most 'normal', although that's not a great word to apply to an optimised being. Perhaps it's easier to say that they're the 'easiest' for Nerv to master. Critically, Nerv has isolated the exact elements that allow a clone to be compatible with the parent's soul without interfering with Evangelion operation. When a Transhuman dies, their soul can be transferred to a backup body. These bodies' memories are kept maintained with regular brain mapping scans of the Transhuman's current mind. However, for whatever reason- possibly due to design-by-committee or Nerv's ad-hoc nature- these bodies are not standardised.

This means that should the Transhuman discover something they shouldn't, then they can simply be killed- they won't remember it, anyway. Or so Nerv believes. The truth is, the Transhuman's soul will soon fill in the blanks.

The Transhuman's qualities are intrinsic enough that they do well in any role, but they excel at melee and close combat, or at physical challenges.

Aptitudes (Pick one) Strength, Martial
Sub-Origin Trait
Homo Superior You gain Unnatural Martial, Strength, Toughness and Agility (1). These increase to 2 whenever you buy the fourth score advance for that score- so gaining Strength Advance #4 will also grant you Unnatural Strength (2).
Backups: League of their Own You begin the game with six backup bodies. Whenever you die or suffer a serious injury you deem serious enough, you may spend a Fate Point to change to one of your backups. However, these bodies are the relic of attempts to find the premium mix of traits and effects appropriate to your ordained role. Each of your bodies (including your starting one) begins with a random benefit and oddity, determined by rolling two d10s per body and comparing the rolls to the chart below. During downtime, you may request that your Director spend 2 surplus to add another body to your list; this can either copy one of your original seven, or be another randomly rolled one. Every body must be unique- if a roll produces a template identical to a previous body, reroll it. You may choose which of your seven starting bodies is the one you begin with freely. Note that
Roll Benefit Oddity
1 Borrowed Abilities: Your body comes with inherent skills, ranging from developed muscle memory to simply knowing things. This body has the Unnatural Skill trait, in two skill focuses of your choice; a third is chosen by your GM. Haywire Aging: This body is subject to utterly uncontrolled accelerated aging, either accidentally or because the body was designed with an expiry date. For every Downtime that passes, the body ages a full five years physically, running the risk of old age-related death and complications.
2 Redundant: Your body is significantly stronger than it otherwise would be and able to take unholy amounts of damage without death. Choose one of the following effects: you have one extra wound and Injury Point, or you have Regeneration (2). Looks Just Like Donor: You look uncannily like the donor, to the point that people get you confused or mistake you for a younger version of them depending on who they are. Work the identity out with the GM based on the benefit and what would be interesting; your fellow PCs are *not* off the cards.
3 Biological Implants: Your body is malleable and a testbed for advanced organs and upgrades that the normal human body would reject. This body gains a biological upgrade slot, which you may fill (or change) during Downtimes with a single Evangelion Biological Upgrade, whether specific or universal, that Nerv has researched. Unnaturally Old: This body has been subject to a somewhat overenthusiastic schedule of controlled accelerated aging that has left it looking between 30 to 70 years old; if it was based on a donor then it's noticeably older than they are. For whatever reason, even if you have an adult's body, this doesn't interfere with the Evangelion. Despite the age, the body has been fine-tuned with fresh organs and upgrades to keep it functional.
4 Cybernetics: Your body has been specially engineered around taking hyper-advanced cybernetic implants into your body. This body gains a mechanical upgrade slot, which you may fill (or change) during Downtimes with a single Evangelion Mechanical Upgrade, whether specific or universal, that Nerv has researched. Unnaturally Young: This body could have done with a little longer in the old cultivation tank; as it stands it looks between eight to twelve years of age, or if based on a donor, significantly younger than them; looking older than 17 is rare. That said, the most this might interfere with is getting things off tall shelves- Nerv has made sure that it can function in the Eva by fine-tuning its properties.
5 Extreme Mobility: Your body is capable of feats of movement that would put it at the very upper limit of human capability, or even beyond. Pick one of the following traits, you now gain it: Bounder, Hopper (3), Swimmer (2). Uncanny Valley: There is something off about this body that produces odd reactions in people who are not used to it; it alarms animals, scares small children, leaves an imprint in the memory or may be unnaturally attractive to some people. This can be as subtle or overt as you want, like an ever-so-slightly porcelain visage or a clearly monstrous or inhuman physique. This may cause problems in various situations.
6 Acclimatisation: Your body has been designed to excel in specific environments, including possibly underwater- indefinitely! Pick and gain one of the following traits: Natural Habitat (any), Amphibious (1). Intrusive Memories: Memories plague your resting mind. Sometimes your daydreams become flashbacks that are so real you can taste and smell them. They are not your memories. Whose they are, and what they mean, is up to the GM.
7 Out of Body Experience: Your body seemingly has no benefits, until you sleep for the first time, where you realise you can 'detach' your consciousness from it and travel a certain distance from it. When you sleep (including during downtimes), you can project your consciousness up to a distance 1km away from your body. This 'presence' is invisible and intangible, but it cannot travel through physical surfaces, and should it touch a living person they unconsciously sense your presence and feel weirded out. Evangelions and Angels are able to sense you and AT Field abilities can target this projection- which can kill you! Should you wake up or be woken up, your projection snaps back to the body. Invasive Personality: There seems to almost be another personality battling for control of this body. Brainscans and memory pattern uploads don't support this sensation yet nonetheless you find yourself occasionally experiencing alien hand, intrusive thoughts, emotions that are not your own, or sleepwalking with a purpose.
8 Mutant Senses: Your body has senses that normal humans don't, such as being able to see different spectra or hear unusually. Pick and gain one of the following traits: Dark Sight, Life Sense, Heightened Perception (Any), Sonar Sense. Missing Pieces: There seems to be nothing outwardly wrong with this body, nor is there anything wrong with the mind upload or the soul implantation, yet when you first open your eyes in it there are huge gaps in your memory that you are aware of, like being in a room full of foggy windows. This doesn't affect your skills or abilities, but it can be hard to explain why you have some, and using them feels like missing a step on a staircase. Intriguingly, there are some memories that you're aware of missing but are far, far older than the others…
9 Weaponised: Your body comes with implanted weapons, which may or may not be highly uncomfortable for you. Pick one of the following: You have the Toxic (1) trait, or a customised natural weapon. Life Finds A Way: Nerv has seen fit to use non-human genetic material when making this one. Exotically, very rarely, they might slap some Angel DNA in there and knock off for drinks, but it's much more likely to derive from somewhere else in the Animal Kingdom- cats, dogs, fish… spiders… These effects can be subtle effects on diet, allergy or perception, or overt aesthetic changes that are obvious to literally everyone. They might even be cute…
10 Gemini: Your body is actually two bodies, and you exist and act in both at the same time, an existence that would defy anyone else's understanding and yet feels natural to you. That said, the control is not perfect and in high-intensity situations, can become disrupted. You're not even sure if Nerv is aware of this one… You possess a second body and control it at will, no matter how far away it is. However, during combat, you must divide your actions between both of your bodies- although each body has its own limits on repeating keywords. If one of your body is affected by a Mental Ailment or Fear, both are. Donor's Imprint: The benefits of this body are heavily influenced by your donor's own traits, to the extent that you seem to have inherited muscle memory and some bodily forms. You gain an aspect based around this donor's abilities and your benefits, with the caveat that you (and others who might know the donor) experience an intense sense of deja vu when witnessing the aspect used, enough to clue some as to your origin.

Note: The 'League of their Own' mechanic is intended to provide the transhuman a degree of flexibility in their backups- at the least, that each body will have its own quirk the pilot must deal with, as well as an advantage that might appeal to an upcoming challenge or situation. However, there is always the chance, when randomness is involved, to create a combination of benefit or oddity that might not make sense, or an oddity that a player finds infringes too deeply on their character's concept or aren't interested in playing. Some might naturally balk from having a randomised mechanic control so much of their character. That's more than understandable. If this is the case, then as an alternative to rolling randomly, if the GM and player agree to it, whenever a player uses 'League of their Own', they may simply choose their Benefit and/Or Oddity at will from the list. If this is the case, there's no need to track each body's traits; they're Schrodinger's Clones until they come into play.

-- Back to Top --

The Hybrid

The Hybrid, much like the Transhuman, is a representation of the bleeding edge of genetics technology. The difference, however, is that whilst the Transhuman is made with designed or donated human genetics, the Hybrid's makeup is far more alien. Simply put, samples of Angel DNA- perhaps taken from Adam or Lilith or some other source- have been mixed in with a basic human template- or perhaps a 'non-standard' soul was used for the body. The result is an extreme form of human life, to say the least. The Hybrid has no problems synchronising with the Evangelion- in fact they probably synchronise a little too well. However, they also possess strange quirks: their biology is a little (or a lot, in some cases) 'off', their reactions to medicine or food can be unexpected or extreme, and almost everyone finds the hybrid subtly off-putting in some small way- at least until they get to know them.

The Hybrid's alien body gifts them with a perception of reality only loosely moored to space and time. This allows the Hybrid to catch glimpses of events that have happened far away, or have yet to happen at all. These glimpses resonate with the coming of an Angel, and become sharper and more reliable the closer an Angel is. This allows a Hybrid to act as an 'antenna' for the Angels, being able to detect when they're coming, and even understand their weaknesses and strengths.

This makes you invaluable to Nerv. However, this is as you might expect, Angelic DNA makes this form unstable and difficult to replicate- recreating or cloning the body is unreliable at best, which means you lack the Transhuman's reliable backup clones. Fortunately, you don't need to rely on such pedestrian methods of 'restoring' yourself. When you die, your soul travels not through space but through time, carrying your consciousness back 24 hours to your old body. This is a traumatic experience, as you remember everything about the death, and lack the cushioning period of blessed ignorance that the Transhuman has, to say nothing of forcibly overwriting your old memories and consciousness with the new one. However, you remember everything from that 24 hour window- a gift from the future, and the chance to potentially avert disaster.

There are limits to this gift, however. The experience is metaphysically traumatic, and if repeated within a period of time, will shred your consciousness completely, leading to a truly gruesome death of both body and self.

Hybrids excel at AT manipulation roles. Outside of combat, they excel at intellectual pursuits, aided by their little seer flickers.

Aptitudes (Pick One) AT Field, Intellect
Sub-Origin Trait
Foreshadowing You only take 1 Stress maximum from Flashback actions. In the Downtime before an Angel Attack, you can ask an Insight question related to the Angel, at a level +1 higher than the current Insight level.
Backups: Tragedy Loop Whenever you die, your soul throws itself back to your body, 24 hours in the past. Your old consciousness is overwritten by the new, with all of the memories of those hours, including that of death, preserved perfectly. You preserve your Stress and Trauma levels, and take an extra point of Trauma. Tragedy Looper cannot be used again until the end of the next Downtime.

Advice on using the Hybrid
The Hybrid is a powerful sub-origin, and a good part of that is the Tragedy Loop trait, which allows the player the freedom to strategically die for information or other benefits. However, the nature of the trait is such that it can cause some issues in play. Ideally, the Tragedy Loop trait is best used in full when conceivably very little has happened in the 24 hours since the Hybrid's death- so for example, an investigation involving the Hybrid by themselves, or other free form events. However, in structured situations such as combat or involving the entire party, the Tragedy Loop risks dominating the play: imagine if a character has a dramatic, heavy moment that is negated by the Hybrid dying, leaping back 24 hours, and doing something to alter the outcome? Alternatively, imagine if there's a battle, where the Hybrid goes down, but the battle is eminently winnable, or is near the end? At this point the Tragedy Loop risks extending play to the irritation of all at the board. Below are listed some ideas on how to circumnavigate this.

  • Let's See how it Plays Out: In this situation, continue play past when the Hybrid goes down, and see how it turns out, and then reset the clock only if all the players agree that it went truly terribly. For example, in a combat where the Hybrid goes down, but the players feel like it can be won, let it play out until the end, and maybe only reset if it's a disaster. Otherwise, the Hybrid spent the Tragedy Loop trying to figure out how to avoid death again and little else.
  • Take a Trade Instead: Understandably, a Hybrid might not enjoy having their cool trait reduced down to a simple 'avoid death' state. As a trade off with the GM, they can instead decide that Tragedy Loop negates the lethal attack and also lets the Hybrid take a few free flashbacks that might, for example, negate earlier attacks or change out a teammate's weapon profile, or predict an Angel's attacks. However, if this happens, then the Hybrid has to commit to the outcome- no resetting if everything goes pear-shaped.

-- Back to Top --

The Homunculus

In renaissance alchemy, a 'homunculus' is a term for artificially created humans. In fact, some theories of alchemy state that the ideal of alchemy was not to transmute gold, but to create artificial life. By this definition, then, all of the Biosynthetics would count as homunculi. The term, however, has a different meaning, referring to the idea of a tiny, perfectly formed human- a 'little human' living inside a fully-sized human, watching and controlling all their actions. It's this facet that gives the Homunculus its name: a Homunculus is a Biosynthetic utterly optimised for piloting an Evangelion.

Typically, the Homunculus is designed in close proximity with the Evangelion, with all care taken to maximise compatibility between the two. This is the philosophy of the Biosynthetic taken to extremes: the Homunculus is designed not as a pilot, but merely a component- albeit a critical one- of the greater whole Evangelion. And this shows: the Homunculus shows incredible proficiency within the Evangelion, as you'd expect from someone literally born ready to pilot. Unfortunately, this overspecialisation has an entirely expected, if sad outcome: outside of the Eva, the Homunculus is awkward, coming off as flat footed, tactless, even somewhat befuddled. They may develop unfortunate disorders bordering on separation anxiety from their Evangelion, fuelling a dependent relationship that suits Nerv just fine.

If Nerv will not treat you with dignity, however, then a monster must be more human than the humans. Nerv has been a little too successful in making you essential to the Eva, which becomes obvious the first time you die. Your Evangelion berserks, mourning your passing. It immediately tries to pursue and destroy the thing that killed you. When the Evangelion goes dormant, they find within the Entry Plug… You, whole, your body fresh. Whenever it dies, your soul is reborn within the Eva, which uses its Berserking to generate a new body for you. The process is doubtlessly traumatic, and the Eva cannot be promised to do a perfect job, but nonetheless, it is a form of immortality, and more than that, a threat. Anyone who would do you harm, anyone who would point a gun at your head, has to reckon with the fact that once they do it, they will be forced to face the full, unleashed power of the greatest weapon ever made. The ultimate killswitch.

The Homunculus excels at any Eva career, but struggles a little out of it. The reward for the Homunculus is trying to maximise the edge provided to them by their Evangelion.

Aptitudes (Pick One) AT Field, Will
Sub-Origin Trait
Magnum Opus You take a Bonus to all tests within the Evangelion, may decide whether Synch Disruptions are positive or negative at will, and ignore any Feedback effects that don't cause wounds or injuries to you. However, you count as Fatigued whenever you are outside of your Evangelion. As a result of your heritage, however, you can 'go Berserk' the same way an Evangelion can, albeit on foot; you have the same triggers and method and bonuses as normal, except you have no Amnesia period and your goals are your own- you may choose which Soul counts for you for P-Scale berserks. When you go Berserk, you gain a P-Scale AT Field with ATB equal to half the strength of your usual in-Evangelion Field.
Backups: Transmutation Whenever you die, your Evangelion goes berserk and will immediately move to kill whoever or whatever caused your death. After that, it will immediately pursue its own Agenda. After the Evangelion goes dormant, it grows you a new body. However, this new body possesses a Quirk, drawn from the Eva Quirks list. Roll a 1d100; on a 1-70, you gain a random Good Quirk, and on a 71-100 you gain a random Bad Quirk. This is permanent, although if you die again, your new Quirk replaces the old one entirely. If the Quirk is useless (for example, relying on Eva-scale tech), then reroll.

-- Back to Top --

Origin: Director

There may only ever be one Director PC.
The Director is the most unusual of all the Origins: they are a normal human being.

Glibness aside, the Director plays very differently to the other Origins. Directors do not pilot Evangelions, and can't, even if they wanted to. They are also (usually) adults in their late twenties, thirties or older, as opposed to emotionally turbulent teenagers. The Director's role is to take command of Nerv's resources and to protect HQ- and humanity- from the Angels. The execution of this mandate takes priority over almost everything- and everyone- else. To this end, the Director is in charge of the Evangelions, the pilots, the conventional military forces and the personnel in Nerv HQ during combat. Outside of combat, they're expected to support Nerv security and set the agenda for the Evangelion Project's research and materiel goals. This is a hugely important role, and one that can be trusted only to someone of the highest quality.

In combat, you act to support the Evangelion pilots by providing them with supplies, instructions and special abilities. Out of combat, you have great influence within the organisation, allowing you to call upon great amounts of resources for your investigations.

The Director has their own set of Roles specialised to them that allow them to support the pilots. The Director is unique, and operates under their own special rules during Angel Battles, outlined in [Battles]].

Aptitudes (Pick three) Senses, Toughness, Agility, Intellect, Will, Fellowship
Ability Bonus +5 to any four of the following, or +10 to two: Senses, Agility, Intellect, Will, Fellowship
Origin Trait
Chief of Operations You have access to the Director special rules and actions. You also possess the Insight resource, which starts at 1. Insight allows you to gather extra information on Angels and other threats.
Command Team You begin with a Group Bond (1) representing your subordinates- bridge crew, security staff, other agents, so on and so forth. They may be drawn from any Minor Tier 2 NPC profile. Furthermore, for every rank you have in this group bond (including the first), you may designate a specific NPC in your group and upgrade them permanently to an Elite NPC profile instead. Should such an NPC die, they are replaced at the end of the next Downtime. Finally, during E-Scale battles, you gain a pool of extra actions equal to your rank in this Bond to be spent on Director Actions, which may be done at any time; this pool refreshes at the start of the next Break or Downtime.
Doctrine Every Director's doctrine of battle is influenced by their background and personal style. Every sub-origin has a specific Doctrine trait that modifies their approach to E-scale battles.

-- Back to Top --

The Eva Commander

The Eva Commander represents a new evolution in warfare. Although they might have training in general military strategy and politics, the Eva Commander's focus is in how to maximise the tactical value of Evas. This is a hugely complicated process, factoring in optimisations from the supply line to technological breakthroughs to understanding the terrain in an Eva context, but ultimatley it means the Eva Commander must handle the pilots. Eva Commanders are more likely to come from scientific or academic backgrounds.

The pilots are the most important element here- they're nigh irreplaceable, but they're also volatile and unreliable, requiring a deft personal touch in order to handle. Fortunately (depending on who you ask), the Eva Commander tends to be the youngest of the Director sub-origins, due to the fact that a younger Eva Commander has less reliance on traditional military doctrine, and thus is easier to teach.

You, moreso than the other sub-origins, are more familiar with the Nerv culture and structure, and likely have been involved in it for some time. This doesn't preclude you from having a life before Nerv- far from it, you likely have your own varied reasons as to why Nerv chose you for this position over other people.

Aptitudes (Pick One) Intellect, Senses
Sub-Origin Trait
Special Training At the start of the game, choose a single Advanced Aptitude. You and all other PCs permanently gain that Aptitude.
Doctrine: Eva Tactician You gain an extra Action per Round, which may only be spent on activating Director Actions. This action is not tied to your Initiative and may be spent at any time during a Round.

-- Back to Top --

The General

The General is a tried-and-true experienced purveyor of the art of war. The wars of the post-Impact era involved everything from conventional set-piece battles to insurgent guerilla warfare and mass information attacks, with a logistical chain pulled taut even in the wealthiest parts of the worlds. Those militaries who gave too much power to fools soon failed. This baptism of fire nonetheless forged commanders of true talent and ability, able to predict the flow of battle and shape it to their own ends. Conflict in ongoing in this era, and even young cadets might have had extensive experience.

The General's approach to Nerv Tactical Command is one that places more importance on the conventional forces that aid Nerv during battles. These forces are often numerous and diverse, but helplessly unable to penetrate an AT Field. That makes them easy to dismiss, and many in Nerv treat them as a joke, but these forces can often serve a vital role. The General does not ignore the Evangelions nor downplay them, but places them as an asset that can be combined with land, sea and air forces working in tandem to produce a decisive effect. There is plenty in the art of war still applicable to an Angel, and knowing your enemy has never been more important.

Your greatest advantage is that Nerv under you benefits from your history of military experience. Disciplined and coordinated, it will be harder for the Angels to slip past your vigilance, and once they do, they won't be quite so free to ignore humanity's resistance.

Aptitudes (Pick One) Martial, Will
Sub-Origin Trait
Information Warfare You reroll Angel Interception tests, and Military Force attack tests gain Bonuses equal to your effective Insight. You start with one bonus rank in the Authority skill purchased.
Doctrine: Combined Arms Eva pilots may always count Military Forces as satisfying 'Adjacency' for the purposes of activating Arts.

-- Back to Top --

The Politician

Early on, Nerv realised that their work would have to involve cooperation and organisation with the civilian element. Local, national and international governments would all have their say, pulling Nerv in a dozen different directions. This was inevitable: Nerv represents an incomparable investment of resources, and has an equivalent degree of sheer power. Whether they like it or not, Nerv had to acknowledge that it would not simply be a job of killing Angels, then rinsing and repeating.

The Politician is not untrained in the art of war. They are more than qualified for organising and leading a team of Evangelions, but what defines their approach is marshalling the non-military side of humanity. Researchers, governments, intelligence services- the Politician sees their strength as being able to smooth problems out with the 'home front'. They keep the money coming, stakeholders mollified and free Nerv from the burdens of having to overly rely on groups that don't fully understand just what Nerv does.

Your advantage lies in understand the abilities of others, and how they can help you. You know how to maximise the logistical edge of Nerv, but you also know how to find talent and use it to its best. Your command team are valuable officers, gifted at working together and able to go and do things that others would struggle with.

Aptitudes (Pick One) Senses, Fellowship
Sub-Origin Trait
Calling in Favours You start with one bonus rank in the Peer skill purchased. At the start of each Crisis, you may request a favour relevant to the crisis- the exact nature of the favour should be negotiated between you and your GM, but as a rule it should be something covered by one of your Peer focuses. Alternatively you may choose to bank it and spend it as a 1-stress flashback instead.
Doctrine: Guns and Butter Your Support Resources pool is equal to double your Forces value instead of 1=1, and whenever you win an E-Scale battle with collateral below your FB, you gain the difference in Surplus.

-- Back to Top --

Generating Scores, Vitals and Skills

After choosing your Origin and applying its Score benefits, you may now generate your final starting Score lineup.

  • You gain 60 points to spend across your eight Scores, remembering that all scores begin at 25. You may not increase a Score above 45 at this stage.
  • Once all your points are spent, you finalise your Score line; this will be the starting line you use at the start of the game.
    • A note on Scores: over the course of the game you will be able to gain a maximum of +15 permanent growth to each of the eight core Scores that you don't have Aptitudes in, and a +25 to the ones that you do. Furthermore, your Evangelion uses its own Strength and Toughness scores.
    • Throughout the game, you will see terminology that refers to a Score's 'natural' attributes. This means the character's Scores before any modifiers from, for example, equipment or traits.

Generating Vitals
Every character has a set of important stats known as Vitals. These are their Wounds, Injury Points, Fate Points, Stress and Trauma.

  • Wounds represent your character's general health, and act as a buffer for damage. Once they run out of wounds, damage inflicts crippling Injuries. All characters begin with TB wounds, and if their TB increases, this is recalculated appropriately. Wounds can be restored by Downtimes as well as medicine.
  • Injury Points represent how many major injuries your character can take before suffering a fatal wound. When you run out of wounds, you lose 1 injury point; you then reset wounds to max. When you run out of Injury Points, you are incapacitated or killed.
  • Fate Points are an intangible resource that are spent to activate special actions, such as rerolls or sudden wound heals. Every Hero, including the PCs, begins with 2 Fate Points, and whilst these can be increased through starting traits, the usual way to increase Fate Points is at the GM's whim, often as a reward for excellent roleplaying or major achievements. Fate Points that are spent refresh at the start of the next Downtime, and unspent fate points do not carry over to the next Downtime; you always have the same starting pool. They can also be burned, which allows you to avoid a terrible fate or certain death, but this permanently reduces your Fate Pool by one.
  • Stress is a type of special damage, representing long-term accumulation of physical and mental weariness. Stress is usually accumulated through exposure to dangerous or tiring activities. You accumulate Stress points, and when they exceed your TB, you are Fatigued. If they exceed your TB by 2 or more then you count as Exhausted. Stress is reduced through Downtime.
  • Trauma is a type of special damage that represents exposure to horrifying or psychologically damaging events. It represents harrowing thoughts that plague your mind rather than mental exhaustion. You accumulate Trauma points, and when they exceed your WB, you are Unsettled. If it exceeds WB+2, then you are Dysfunctional. Trauma is reduced through Downtime, but slowly.

-- Back to Top --

Aspects

Aspects are a special element to a character that strongly reflects their personality, background, a belief, relationship or something similar to those. They are defined by you, the player, via working out with the GM (and other players!) what they are and what they mean.

All characters, including PCs, begin with two Aspects and may gain more as time goes on. They may also change over time.

Aspects are more than character traits: they also inform a mechanic. During gameplay, a character may, when making a test, invoke an aspect that would naturally be involved in that test. If they do so, they may either gain a bonus to the test, or reroll the test and take the preferred result. However, aspects can also reflect downsides: if an aspect-boosted test loses, then the aspect becomes 'Broken' until the next Break or Downtime. Whenever a Broken aspect is invoked in a test, the test instead gains either a penalty to the test, or rerolls the test and takes the worse result.

Related to above, a character's aspects can be invoked by other characters, including NPCs, if the GM believes the situation fits the aspect. If the aspect is broken, then this can represent someone exploiting a weakness. In most circumstances, if a character has just invoked an Aspect to boost themselves, then rivals who force them into an opposed test can usually force an invocation of the same Aspect, assuming the situation hasn't fundamentally changed. Whilst this will provide a bonus to the character's test, it nonetheless forces the Aspect to be used- which can lead to a Broken aspect if the test fails.

Conceptually, an aspect then should reflect an important facet of the character's personality, one that gives them strength, but when overexerted or over relied on, can lead to weaknesses and vulnerability.

In non-combat situations, both players and GMs can invoke Aspects to provide interesting solutions, resources, or circumstantial bonuses (or repercussions) outside of the scope of the advantage or reroll bonus or penalty. For example, an aspect around being good and popular at sports might allow characters to immediately succeed at tests with sports fans, or draw extra info from them, or offer up new options on how to deal with them.
-- Back to Top --

Drawbacks

Reflecting the flawed nature almost inherent to an Eva pilot- not to mention the Directors- all characters are required to take at least one Drawback at creation, and can take a second fi they wish. Drawbacks are major traits that have notable mechanical drawbacks. For example, an allergy, or possessing a feature that permanently penalises all of your social interactions.

PCs determine the nature of their drawback with the GM. Players are, however, allowed to take a boon in exchange for their drawback, some examples of which might be:

  • Extra starting upgrades, equal to about 3 Development Actions' worth
  • Another Aspect, perhaps one tied to their Drawback
  • Changing a negative Eva quirk to a random positive one, or replacing a positive quirk with a different one

-- Back to Top --

Generating Evangelions and Nerv HQ

In this step, PCs generate their Evangelions, the rules for which are found under the Evangelions page.

Directors do not have an Evangelion, and so do not generate one. Instead, they are free to decide the characteristics of the Nerv base they operate in as a whole, the rules for which are found in managing Nerv.
-- Back to Top --

Choose Starting Role

Roles inform the general niche the character currently holds. There are many Roles, each with their own focus and benefits. Roles help your character to expand their capabilities in a certain direction as well as granting them special abilities.

Each Role provides your character with one, two or three Advanced Aptitudes, which they possess for as long as they have the Role equipped. The Role also provides you with a 'Kit', a stable of standard equipment that you are assumed to have unlimited access to, as well as a handful of special abilities called 'Exemplaries' that can only be used when the Role is equipped.

Whenever you complete a Crisis, regardless of the actual outcome, you may select one Exemplary in your equipped Role and learn it, allowing you to equip the Exemplary in one of your four Personal Exemplary slots. You can swap the content of your slots out during Downtimes. You can stay in a Role for as long as you like, but you may change to a new Role at the end of a Downtime period.

Once you have learned all of the Exemplaries in a Role, you count as Mastering the Role, which grants you a one-off special benefit.

Most Roles have prerequisites that you must meet before you can take the Role.

All Roles are organised into a 'Role Path', which binds the Roles based on their purpose and theme. Paths don't have any mechanical effects; they're there to help with the decision-making process by giving players clear lines of Roles to focus on.

Finally, each player has four 'Exemplary' slots, which they can fill with any Exemplary from roles they've mastered. They can change the content of all of these slots during a Downtime. Note that no Exemplaries stack with each other- if you allocate one of your four personal Exemplary slots to an Exemplary belonging to the Role you currently have equipped, then you'll get no benefit from this.

All Evangelion pilots start with the 'Eva Pilot' Role mastered, and may then choose their starting role from any they meet the prerequisites for. They start with this Role mastered as well.

The Director instead starts with the 'Operations Captain' Role mastered, and may then choose their starting role from any they meet the prerequisites for. They start with this Role mastered as well.

The list of Roles can be found here in full: Roles

-- Back to Top --

Personal Details and the Big Questions

In this section, you work out the character's personal details: their family, their background, what food they like, their favourite colour, so on and so forth. Realistically, this step will be performed throughout the entirety of the character creation process.

However, in this step you also ask yourself the Big Questions, which help define the character across the themes of Conspiracy: loneliness, alienation from other human beings, and what one can do to cross that gulf.

  • The character is lonely. How does this loneliness manifest?
  • Why are they lonely?
  • How have they tried to solve that loneliness in the past, and why hasn't it worked?
  • What do they think of other people?
  • What do they want from other people?
  • What sort of world do they want to see?

-- Back to Top --

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License