The Other Twelve Pt. 2.pdf

THE OTHER

degree far beyond that of any iniltrator.

hey may be known to other player

characters for years, even decades, and

live their lives exactly as humans do, aging,

learning, and experiences all of the foibles and

challenges of humankind. hen one day, they

experience a shared event: a song only they

can hear; a coded phrase that makes sense only

to them; or a recurring visual pattern or motif,

that triggers their understanding of what they

are.

Maddeningly, this revelation is unlike that

of the other Cylon agents, who experience a

dual personality that switches on and of when

the mission requires. Instead, suddenly their

entire existence is framed with the knowledge

that they are, and always have been, Cylons.

hey do not, however, know what it means …

yet. Of all triggered Cylons, these Cylons will

react the most viscerally to their awareness of

not being human. hey may experience vivid

hallucinations of acting out orders that are

abhorrent to them, and they might seemingly

fail at tasks that would put them into conlict

with other Cylons.

Introducing the Four Who Are Hidden is

an excellent opportunity for the Game Master

to retroactively turn a signiicant supporting

character into a Cylon. It is also a potential

opportunity to reveal to a player that his player

character is actually one of these long-lost,

hidden Cylons. Suggestions for how to manage

this in your campaign are provided at the end

of this article.

In the event that one of the player characters

is not a Cylon from the Four Who Are Hidden,

here are four sample NPCs to ill these roles.

TWELVE – PART

TWO OF TWO

Author’s Warning: his article is intended

speciically for the Game Master’s use and is not

intended for players to read. Players reading

this material will likely spoil any surprises

their Game Masters have in store. Additionally,

this article includes an indirect reference to a

major dramatic plot development from the

third season of Battlestar Galactica , and may

spoil some of the show’s surprises. Pages 187-

191 of the core rulebook contain a wealth of

information about and suggestions regarding

the use of Cylon and Cylon iniltrators in

ongoing Battlestar Galactica campaigns. he

information

this

article

augments

and

expands upon those guidelines.

he irst part of this article covered the

Seven Who Are Known: seven Cylon models

distributed throughout the Colonial Fleet

as well as within Galactica ’s very ranks. In a

traditional Battlestar Galactica RPG campaign,

these are encountered and revealed quite early,

and should be encountered in multiples. While

those “main” Cylon models are relatively

well-known and should be used liberally by

the Game Master, the Cylons themselves are

harboring a tremendous secret: ive of their

number are unknown to even them.

he Cylons are programmed not to think

about this paradox, and these “lost” Cylons

are the source of many myths, legends, and

suspicion. Some Cylons actively pursue

knowledge of these unknown members of their

species, certain that to know about them is to

comprehend the profound and fundamental

mystery of Cylon existence.

For ease of reference, these remaining

ive “unknown” Cylons are divided into two

groups: he Four Who Live in Secrecy and he One

Who Will Be Revealed .

T HE F OUR W HO

A Number Two:

“Charles Abbot”

Agi d6 Str d6 Vit d8 Ale d10 Int d8 Wil d8

LP 16; Init d6+d10

Traits Cool Under Fire d2, Duty (Colonial

Fleet) d6, Hardy Constitution d2, Intuitive d4,

Paranoid d4, Photographic Memory d2, Sharp

Sense (Hearing) d4

Military Rank Petty Oicer First Class

Skills Artistry d2, Athletics d6/Sports

(Sailing) d8/Swimming d8, Discipline d6/

L IVE IN S ECRECY

hese four are among the deepest of deep-

cover Cylons, and have been living among the

ranks of humankind for their entire lives to a

Concentration d8/Memorization d8,

Guns d2, Inluence d4, Knowledge d4,

Perception d6/Hearing d8/Intuition d8,

Planetary Vehicles d6/Sailboat d8, Survival

d6/Outdoor Life d8, Technical Engineering

d6/Communications Systems d10/Electronics

d8/Repair Electrical Systems d8

Description Born on Aquaria from a long

line of sailors, naval oicers, and others who

made their living defending the sea, Charles

Abbot was the irst of his family to venture of-

planet, joining the Colonial Military. When he

left home, he told his family that the horizon

was not enough for him. Now he would give

anything to once more stand on the deck of

a sailing vessel, breathe deeply of crisp salt-

tinged air, and feel the splash of the sea on

face and the wind through his hair. Abbot

has a shock of bright red hair and ice-blue

eyes, with a close-cropped military cut giving

way into curls on top. His face is long and

somewhat morose, and he’s got a spattering

of freckles. When kidded about how someone

so pale could be a sailor, Abbot claims that his

ancestors were sea-reavers from the southern

reaches of Aquaria, sailing amidst jords and

mapping the planet as they raided and traded.

Abbot excelled in signaling and

communications, and became a

communications oicer at Heimdall Station, a

long-range Colonial communication relay base

at the outermost orbit of the Twelve Colonies,

closest to Tauron. When the President’s

emergency beacon went out, Abbot and

others onboard Heimdall Station abandoned

their posting and led in a small emergency

shuttle. More than sixty men and women were

stationed onboard the station, and less than

a dozen made their way onto the only shuttle

available to them. Abbot and his fellow oicers

were picked up by the ships that would become

the Colonial Fleet, and eventually made their

way to Galactica . Once the Fleet’s purpose

was determined, the men and women from

Heimdall Station were assigned new postings

on Galactica . Abbot and the oicers who

were onboard don’t speak much about what

happened at Heimdall, and Adama has ordered

their records sealed based on his review.

Now serving onboard Galactica as a

communications oicer (he alternates duty

shifts with Petty Oicer Dualla, trading places

with her each morning and evening when they

switch shifts), Abbot relays messages from

Galactica to the CAP and the other ships of the

Fleet.

Plot Hook If Abbot discovers his Cylon

identity before others learn it; he will be

wracked with guilt and self-doubt. Every

time he walks out of the CIC he will wonder

if he’s sent some coded message to the Cylons

announcing Galactica’s position. Each time

that Galactica relays its next jump coordinates

to the ships of the Fleet, Abbot wonders if

SO MANY

CYLONS . . .

So the Twelve Colonies were wiped out,

and humankind was almost eradicated by

the Cylons. It’s a given that there were

many Cylons infiltrating the Colonies in

a variety of roles: saboteurs, spies, and

advance scouts; or deep-cover Cylons with

no knowledge of their origins, integrated

into key positions within the military and

even the government. Even with the notion

of hundreds or even thousands of Cylons

mingling among the ranks of humankind,

the odds that more than one or two of

these Cylons would surface in the surviving

Colonial Fleet are nearly astronomical.

The Battlestar Galactica television

series has shown us that a small handful

hold ranks onboard Galactica, and another

half-dozen were among the survivors within

the Colonies or the Fleet. All but a few of

the eleven known models of Cylon have

been represented amongst the Colonial

Fleet. The odds for this are, as noted above,

infinitesimal.

How is this possible?

One theory is that even the hidden

Cylons, who didn’t know anything about

their mission or origin, received some sort

of subliminal signal that put them into

positions of relative safety when the Cylon

invasion fleet attacked.

Only the Gods know.

he’ll make a mistake … and if he does, will

it be human fallibility or something else ? he

potential for sabotage is incredible in his

position, and he’s got no way of stepping down

from his post without drawing attention to the

reasons why.

their alma mater . A graduate of the

university Roslin attended, Castillo is

younger than the president, but they

share many experiences in common when

discussing faculty and administration and

the old university grounds. A fast friendship

developed, and from time to time, whenever

circumstances permit, the two would meet for

a cup of tea or small talk. Eventually, when the

pressures of the presidency were almost too

much to bear, Roslin broached the subject and

asked Castillo if she could become a patient.

hough she has no military rank and holds

no political oice, Castillo has nonetheless

become privy to a number of state secrets

and otherwise classiied pieces of information

as President Roslin’s counselor. Once every

other week, under strict secrecy disguised as

a simple social call, Castillo and Roslin meet

as psychiatrist and patient. Castillo ofers

advice, counseling, listens, and otherwise

asks questions to help Roslin cope with the

immensity of weight upon her shoulders—

the Fleet, dealing with the military (and

particularly Commander Adama), the spiritual

aspects of her self-appointed role as prophet

of the Gods, and the psychological efects of

dealing with terminal cancer. None of her staf

realize that Castillo’s role is as a psychologist,

and even though Roslin has been circumspect

about revealing state secrets, Castillo has been

able to ill in the blanks and intuit much of

what’s not being said.

Plot Hook As a counselor and psychiatrist

to the President of the Twelve Colonies, Castillo

is in a unique position. She ofers counsel and

advice to the most important person in the

Fleet, and yet she is accountable to no one, the

nature of her relationship concealed. hough

she upholds the oath of her oice to keep her

patient’s secrets and treatment conidential,

she has been able to guess much that her

patient has not told her. If she discovers herself

to be a Cylon, Castillo will be both fascinated

and repelled by this revelation. Her profound

understanding of the workings of the human

psyche, and her empathetic bond with

patients, causes her to rethink what the Cylon

mind is like … and she wonders how diferent

they can be from humankind.

A Number Three:

“Serena Castillo”

Agi d6 Str d6 Vit d6 Ale d10 Int d10 Wil d8

LP 14; Init d6+d10

Traits Advanced Education d4, Duty

(Healer’s Oath) d6, Uncommon Knowledge d6

Skills Artistry d6/Music Composition d8,

Inluence d6/Conversation d10/Interrogation

d8/Persuasion d10, Knowledge d6/Culture

d8/Literature d8/Philosophy d8/Religion

d8, Medical Expertise d6/Neurology d8/

Pharmaceuticals d8/Psychiatry d10/

Rehabilitation d8, Perception d6/Deduction

d8/Empathy d8, Performance d6/Instrument

(Piano) d8,

Description Doctor Serena Castillo is a

woman of average height and build. hough

she is not athletic by nature, she is nonetheless

in good physical shape. She has short russet

hair, worn straight, usually tucked behind her

ears. Castillo has pleasant features, large brown

eyes, and a soft speaking voice and projects

trust and assurance. Her patients have little

trouble opening up to her and coniding their

problems.

Castillo, a practicing psychiatrist, was

returning from a vacation on Virgon when

the Cylons struck. When the irst census was

taken to establish the skill set of the surviving

members of the human race, Castillo’s value

was recognized. Humanity was reeling and in

shock, and the immense weight of grief from

dead loved ones, the uprooting of society,

and the new almost prison-like existence

was too much for some to bear. Castillo was

immediately asked to lend her assistance in

counseling the worst-of among the survivors.

“he pay is nonexistent,” joked the President,

“but the beneits are even worse.”

Eventually, when there was time for

small talk, Castillo and President Laura Roslin

discovered they had something in common:

hough her irst concern is obviously

that the secrets she knows can be used to

compromise the safety of the human race,

Castillo is nonetheless secretly thrilled about

the ability to observe the transition of self-

awareness into something new. Unlike other

Cylons with their obsessions with a One God,

and the humans with their Twelve, Castillo is

now obsessed with the notion that the Final

Five may be gods themselves.

astrophysics and related disciplines has led her

to ofer her services to the Colonial Government

as an aid in navigating a likely course to Earth.

She has been pressuring the President’s

oice to gain access to Galactica’s charts and

navigational data, emphasizing that her insights

and expertise will be invaluable. Unfortunately,

her petitions fell on deaf ears amidst the clamor

of other more pressing concerns. When she did

reach the proper authority, it was Doctor Gaius

Baltar. He quietly buried her message. Pheidon

suspects that Baltar ignored her so that his own

value to the Fleet would not be overshadowed

by her presence.

hrough persistence or some other turn

of events, Pheidon has recently gained access

to the President’s ear and has been appointed

a position as civilian consultant to Galactica ,

where she now works with Lt. Gaeta to plot

a likely course to Earth based on long-range

astrometric data. She has been pushing

Commander Adama to conigure Galactica ’s

DRADIS for longer-range scans, but he has so

far resisted. When asked point-blank if it would

increase the chance of Galactica being noticed

by any Cylon onlookers, her estimation was

that their presence would be obvious to anyone

listening on a number of wave-spectrum

frequencies. Adama shot the plan down, though

he’s reconsidering it as a last resort.

Plot Hook With access to Galactica ’s

navigational charts, Pheidon is certainly well-

positioned to delay or, worst-case scenario,

misdirect the Colonial Fleet away from Earth.

Her risky plan to boost Galactica ’s long-

range DRADIS sweep is an ambitious one that

could cut their journey short, or it could be

the equivalent of a signal lare for the enemy,

letting the Cylons know in no uncertain terms

exactly where the Colonial Fleet is, and even

providing a clue as to where it may be headed.

If she becomes aware she is one of these inal

Cylons, Pheidon will be wracked with doubt,

wondering if she’s been responsible for leading

the Fleet into past Cylon encounters, and if she

is leading humanity to its doom.

A Number Six:

“Vanetta Pheidon”

Agi d6 Str d6 Vit d8 Ale d6 Int d10 Wil d10

LP 18; Init d6+d6

Traits Advanced Education d4, Anger

Issues d2, Mathematician d4, Overconident

d4, Rebellious d4, Uncommon Knowledge d6

Skills Inluence d6/Bureaucracy d8,

Knowledge d6/History d8/Religion d8,

Perception d6/Deduction d8/Investigation d8/

Sight d8, Performance d6/Oratory d8, Scientiic

Expertise d6/Astrophysics d12/Mathematics

d10/Physics d12, Technical Engineering d6/

Astrogation d12

Description Vanetta Pheidon is a tall,

striking woman in her 40s, with a irm jaw line

and shoulder-length jet-black hair, slightly

curled. Her eyes are dark, and she often wears

her hair back in a severe ponytail. She usually

wears business-style suits or skirts, though the

wear-and-tear on wardrobe in the Fleet has

made her accept whatever garments can be

scavenged. Pheidon is regularly in possession

of a small satchel containing a laptop computer

containing the results of her work. In person,

she is forceful and sometimes arrogant, rarely

cutting anyone around her slack for being as

intelligent as she apparently is.

Pheidon is a graduate of the prestigious

Lyceum of Tauron, an extremely forward-

thinking combination of think-tank

and university. Sponsored in part by the

Colonial Military, work at the Lyceum is

cross-disciplinary in nature, allowing for

fundamental leaps forward in technology when

leading-edge thinkers are encouraged to work

together. Pheidon gained a reputation for being

diicult, but otherwise brilliant. Her work in

A Number Ten:

“Nyssa Taggart”

task, and is attempting to train a small

cadre of medical personnel for deployment

throughout the leet. For serious cases, she

refers patients to the Lifebays onboard Galactica ,

and in life-threatening situations she provides

initial assessment while Cottle is en route.

Plot Hook As a representative of Galactica ,

with access to a full stable of pharmaceuticals

and inert disease cultures, Taggart could cause

immeasurable harm to the Colonial Fleet if

triggered and used for biological warfare.

Her access to complete medical records

documenting the entire human race has already

provided the Cylons with immeasurable tactical

advantages and advance intelligence.

Agi d8 Str d6 Vit d8 Ale d8 Int d8 Wil d8

LP 16; Init d8+d8

Traits Allure d2, Dull Sense (Eyesight) d2,

Duty (Colonial Fleet) d6, Good-Natured d4,

Idealist d2, Photographic Memory d2, Quick

Healer d6

Skills Artistry d6, Athletics d6/Swimming

d8, Guns d4, Inluence d6/Administration

d8/Conversation d8, Knowledge d6, Medical

Expertise d6/Epidemiology d8/First Aid d10/

General Practice d10, Perception d6/ Empathy

d8/Investigation d8, Scientiic Expertise d6/

Life Sciences d10, Technical Engineering d4

Military Rank Lieutenant

Description Lieutenant Nyssa Taggart is

in her late twenties, and in good physical

condition, with memories of competitive

swimming throughout college. She has short

blonde hair that accents the oval of her face.

She wears thin, wire-framed glasses and often

wears an ornamental hair-clip over her temple.

Taggart exudes an air of quiet conidence and

reserves of patience, and has a ready smile

for patients. Unlike many of the medical staf

onboard Galactica , Taggart was a practicing

nurse in a pediatric wing before joining the

military, and as such she works better with

children and their mothers.

Taggart serves as a medical assistant to

Doctor Cottle. She’s responsible for traveling

throughout the Colonial Fleet and regularly

assaying health conditions, checking for

outbreaks of disease, tracking any rises of

airborne pathogens, and seeing to it that the

Fleet’s children and adults are immunized

and that their healthcare needs are being met.

In the conines of the individual ships, with

regular traic between them, the chance of an

outbreak of an air- or contact-based pathogen

is immense, its efects potentially devastating.

Taggart is well known throughout the Fleet

and to all of the Raptor and shuttle pilots, as she

is continually lying from ship to ship on a never-

ending circuit, attempting the impossible task

of seeing to it that each member of the human

race is healthy despite low morale. Taggart has

a small handful of assistants to aid her in this

The One Who Will Be Revealed

At this point, the inal revelation of the

“missing” Cylon can only be someone of

immense importance to the campaign, either

strategic or emotionally. Furthermore, this

character’s identity must by its very nature

be a dramatic discovery, rather than being

drawn from the ranks of the supporting cast of

characters, no matter how prominent.

Essentially, the Game Master evaluate the

most dramatically signiicant character from his

cast of characters and considers the character’s

potential for being the inal Cylon who will be

revealed. Because each campaign is diferent,

the identity of this character is discussed both

in terms of using characters from the Battlestar

Galactica television series, and for roles unique

to a campaign using characters other than those

presented on the television series.

From the Television Series

Author’s Note—At the time of this writing,

only the irst seven episodes of Season Four (the

inal season) have been broadcast. herefore,

these analyses of the identity of the inal Cylon

are both highly speculative and spoiler-laden.

If the Game Master is using the traditional

cast of characters from the television series in

a campaign similar to those presented on pages

164–168 of the core rulebook, where the player

characters serve onboard a Galactica that’s

identical or nearly so to the one from the series,

here are some options for who the One Who

Will Be Revealed could be.

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