Sugar Atlas
The muscular giant with a great tuft of multicolored, wiry hair and broad, bronzed features is not the image one conjures when imagining a wealthy Rifter merchant-magnate. He wears garish silks over a standard flesh-tone (or transparent) spacer's suit and wears thick golden jewelry, casually tossing currency at poor passers-by. He speaks of peace and love, despite the great violence of his past.
Born a simple pit fighter on a nowhere orbital, Sugar Atlas's life has been one of strife and struggle. His brawn and his wits have seen him through a life of blood and toil in the flesh markets, fighting for his life against other slaves in the dens of vice that litter lawless space. When his talent was revealed, his master had him trained in all of the arts of combat and shown the pleasures of women. Eventually, he earned him a small fortune for his keeper and was given his freedom as a reward.
From then on he did what he knew best, serving as a mercenary in a dozen technobarbarian wars across known space. His efforts earned him money and glory, the loyalty of shrewd people who became his inner council. Though a powerful warrior, Atlas' greater talent was in his ability to recognize and obtain talent, surrounding himself with civilized people of greater education and knowledge than himself. Through their advice, a fortune wrought in conflict was transformed into a trading empire that spanned from the League of Free Stars to the darkest reaches of the Rift. Atlas became rich, but never slovenly. The self-styled "Richest Man in the Rift" is a philanthropist, humanitarian and ardent enemy of the Black Brethren, the space pirate Hrang, the LaVis Corporation and all who disrupt the noble practice of commerce in space.
The Ur-Real invasion has been bad for business and more importantly, threatens the future of his wives and fifty children. Without strong allies to protect the Rift from being overrun, the House of Atlas will become a footnote in history, only remarkable for its brief length and the outlandish appearance of its founder.
- Virtue: Does not have a price when it comes to his integrity.
- Vice: Is brash, prideful and full of hate towards the people who have betrayed him.
- Rank: The Richest Man in the Rift
- Allies: The House of Atlas; a frankly obscene number of wives and lovers, also children; the Inner Circle; free traders and free lovers of the Rift.
- Enemies: Hrang, the Black Brethren, Ur-Real cults springing up across space like dirty snake pits.
- Goals: PEACE & LOVE in the Rift (Also Money)
- Foreign Policy: Wage war? What a terrible thing for humans to do to one another- though I suppose the Ur-Real and their horrid servants are hardly human now, are they?
- Religion: We were made to be go forth and be fruitful, and I have been very faithful to doctrine.
- Class: Anyone can be rich! And if someone is getting in your way and trying to impose some deal about class or caste on you, eat him!
- Economics: I pay my taxes and tariffs and give alms, and that's frankly all I care about. Let free trade and free love bloom in the Rift!
- Skills:
Attributes and Skills
Attributes
- IQ: 4
- Wits: 2
- Charm: 4
- Cunning: 1
- Durability: 4
- Physical Action: 5
Skills
- Black Mail 2
- Horse Trading 2
- Chummy 6
- Bureaucracy 4
- Legal 4
- Speech Giving 2
- Plotting 4
- Ship Command
- Helmsmen: 0
- Gunnery: 0
- Leadership: 0
- Squadron Command
- Maneuver: 1
- Formation: 1
- Command: 1
- Fleet Command
- Maneuver: 1
- Formation: 1
- Command: 1