Bio

Backstory

Born into a once-noble family of Nemian water barons (What? Water’s really valuable in asteroid belts, until the Astria Corp starts importing it in bulk, and ruins your local distillation / purification monopoly industry), Mordecai has striven from an early age to return to the glory days of opulence that his family once knew. Unfortunately, economic opportunity in Nemia has all but dried up with the importation of mining robots and so, despite graduating at the top of his class from the Nemian Lyceum, Mordecai was able to secure only a simple robot-herding job in the Astria Corp mines. He grew bored and restless, however, and his devious mind turned to finding ways to exploit his position in control of a squad of mining robots. Eventually, he realized that he could conceivably ‘accidentally’ cut power to the nearby Astria Shipyards, located on the same asteroid (Nemia Gamma), and leaving them vulnerable to attack. He made contact with a Nemian Pirate organization, the Red Talons, and sold them on the idea – he’d cut the power, they’d grab the goods from the shipyard, and they’d reconvene later to split the loot. The heist went off without a hitch, earning Mordecai the respect of the Red Talons, and a potential lead on a lightly-used corsair, but he was forced to leave his employment at Astria. Though allegations of sabotage were never proven, he was suspected and decided to jump ship to nearby Ionius before more evidence materialized.

On Ionius, Mordecai became entangled in the separatist movement. He served as a double agent, simultaneously selling the rebels weapons acquired through the Red Talons, and selling the government of Ionius information on the locations and armament of the rebels. It was a dangerous time, and Mordecai was involved in several firefights, but he managed to talk his way out of any lasting harm. He fled back to Nemius when he was caught with the Generalissimo du Resistance’s daughter… On his way out, he made the acquaintance of a journalist who was held in the same cell, and who aided in the escape. Here, Mordecai learned many lessons about finding landmines the hard way and was patched up by said journalist.

Upon his return to Nemius, Mordecai initially laid low, hoping his role in the Astria shipyards sabotage had not been discovered. He fell back in with the Red Talons, and discovered that they were at war with a Mara cartel of some size, which was trying to push into their turf. Mordecai’s silver tongue came into play here again, as he served as a false cooperator with the Mara faction, only to reveal the times and locations of their movements of certain high-value persons and cargoes to the Red Talons. This allowed them to crush the Cartel, for which Mordecai was suitably rewarded.

Now a thoroughly trusted contact of the Talons, Mordecai set out to expand on his earlier success with the Ionian Successionists and add smuggling to the menu under the guise of Legitimate Business Deliveries, LLC. Notable successes in this area include re-opening trade with the Ionian Resistance (under a false name and a good disguise, of course), selling modern tech to the savages of Metium under the guise of missionary work, and clandestinely moving artifacts off of Athon to various buyers throughout human space under a forged survey license. His work has greatly benefited the Red Talons, and their leader Iannus Xenakis now considers him a close friend and drinking buddy (and man do pirates know how to party). During this time, Mordecai also managed to turn a profit moving legal cargo which he had initially taken on purely as cover for his illegal dealings. Further, he met and established a working relationship with a Mara pilot living in human space during his travels; he’s intrigued by Mara space, both for the possibility of new markets and as somewhere to run to if he ever can’t shake the Curia authorities. For now, though, Mordecai considered taking some time off from the (dangerous) criminal business and just moving legal cargo for a living.

After a short stint of moving strictly legal cargo, however, Mordecai started to get the impression that this activity was actually Honest Work (despite his success in swindling ridiculous prices out of people), which he found deplorable for two reasons: that it was work, and that it was honest. Further, honest work is for peasants, not scions of the noble House of Toth. More practically, he got a bit bored; when the high point in terms of excitement for a month (maniacs with grenades kidnapping your passengers) is completely unrelated to the job, it’s time to find a more interesting job.

Mordecai soon found adventure aplenty, though, during the Avonium Incident. His crew was commissioned by the Curia to investigate Builder ruins excavated by an AstriaCorp KT-31 mining operation on Avonium, but soon found themselves embroiled in a perilous mix of sabotage, psychic ghosts, ancient evils, and giant snakes. Mordecai was greatly shaken by what he saw in the ruins, not least due to being mentally assaulted by one of the ghosts. He hasn’t quite managed to get the voices out of his head yet… However, the crew managed to escape with a prize beyond the wildest dreams of avarice: a (partly) functional Builder capital vessel, in addition to a goodly number of Builder artifacts, and a Builder frozen in a low berth. Now the trouble has become what to do with it all…

The extreme power of the Builder hyperdrive allowed the crew to escape the information bubble leaving Avonium, providing them with a few precious weeks to gather food, supplies, and liabilities family members living in Curian space. During a visit to Ostia to ensure the safety of Kelder’s wife, Mordecai made a killing selling Avonian KT-31 to the Eridani Corp, then proceeded to acquire a wide variety of necessary goods for survival on the run, including bulk foodstuffs, weapons, and skill chips. The crew was contracted to retrieve an illegally owned Builder artifact from an Eridani Warehouse for return to the Curia, who turned out to be Mrs. Synth’s new employer. Mordecai’s computer skills proved useful for gaining floorplans and access, and also permitted him to acquire personal data on several Eridani Corp employees stationed at Ostia. After the job, though, the crew had to expedite their departure back to the Warship in order to avoid law enforcement and Eridani retribution. They also came into possession of several scientific AIs who had been coerced into working in the Eridani lab, as well as a low berth passenger to Metium with a lead on an archaeolinguistics AI there. They plotted a course for Rhiash, in Mara space, to burn the expected time in low berth and to hopefully recruit some of Akra’s colleagues. Mordecai looked forward to this visit to Mara space optimistically; new planets, new people, new food, and hopefully Maran government buyers for his smuggling compartments full of human naval armaments from the Ostian Black Market.

Sadly, Mordecai’s attempts to find a buyer for said weapons were stymied by the need for caution and speed in extracting Akra’s colleagues. Mordecai was, however, instrumental in gaining the use of a yacht for the extraction plan by befriending Rear Admiral Rrhargh of the Maran Navy. When said yacht mysteriously exploded well beyond the 100-diameter limit and conveniently close to where the Invisible Hand was refuelling, Mordecai also saved the good Admiral’s life by dumping him unceremoniously into an escape pod before fleeing in another pod. Unfortunately, Akra’s colleagues had actually been replaced by Maran Intel Operatives under a psychic shield. Said operatives were, however, reasonable, offering the crew asylum in Maran space, taking the dread Black Sword off of their hands, and making known the actual location of the scientists. After foiling a hijacking attempt by a crazy android, the crew headed to Metium to drop off some passengers and pick up some linguistics AIs, leaving the Maran Intel aboard the warship with the Curian research bots and the lone AstroSec marine.

Upon arrival on Metium, they discovered that the linguistics AIs they sought were being held captive by the native Gnaarsh, who demanded poothtaste exchange for their freedom. The Gnaarsh had acquired a taste for toothpaste as a result of Mordecai’s previous… work on Medium, and so the party provided it to them and rescued the AIs, as well as several Gnaarsh who were condemned to die. The Gnaarsh also led them to a Builder beacon, which revealed the existence of life on the Builder homeworld (GCG-210), but also brought down Metium’s space elevator. The players fled on the Invisible Hand and proceeded via the warship to Varul, where, after awakening the builder captain, they engaged a Curia cruiser on Astria business and destroyed a corrupted Builder dreadnought. After saving the Mara refugees on Varul, they rested on Rhiash for a week and recruited crew for the warship. Next stop was Ostia to investigate Astria corp involvement in the invasion of Mara space, as well as to check on Tim’s wife, who had sent them a coded message.

Quotes

Dealing with customs:
“Look, officer, only a crazy smuggler would name their business Legitimate Business. Frankly, I’m a little insulted. Here at Legitimate Business, we specialize in delivering 100% legal cargo. Mail, apple pie, kittens, baseballs… you name it, if it’s legal, we’ve probably shipped it. You’ll never find contraband in any of our hulls, even the cabins of our crew or passengers. That’s how we can make our Legitimate Business Guarantee, that your cargo will never be delayed, impounded, or fined as a result of being transported along with contraband. Remember, if you have legitimate business to do, we’re the legitimate business for you. Here, take my card.”

Mordecai Toth buys a silencer:
“Sir, I can’t let you buy a silencer without a license. We’re not permitted to sell them to civilians.”
“Oh, OK. Well you see, it’s not for me. It’s for my girlfriend, Alecta (cut to shot of Mordecai’s snub pistol), and I’m supposed to get one for her for our anniversary. She’ll absolutely kill me if I don’t, you know (cut to shot of Mordecai firing, making lots of noise). She’s just perfect; beautiful (cut to polishing), never gets in the way (cut to going through a metal detector armed), and quick on the uptake (cut to quickdraw after passing through metal detector). Sure, she sees other men sometimes (cut to view over the sights), but then we fight (cut to dealing with recoil), she drops them hard (cut to enemy down), and we make up (cut to reloading). I’m not perfectly faithful either (cut to firing machine pistol), but we both understand that we are what we are. Anyways, she’s a really lovely lady, and I’d hate to disappoint her. She’s deployed with the marines currently, and she keeps complaining that people keep hearing her shots, and I thought a silencer would be just the thing. So if you could make an exception just this once, for the sake of a lady in uniform…”

On the Builder Warship:
“Well you see, the Curia Legal Code, Article 15.4.11 defines artifacts as not being self-powered. Therefore, this ship is not subject to to the Seizure and Possession clause of that article, as it is most definitely self-powered.”
“… Really?” – the DM
“Nah, but I had you convinced there for a second.”