Backgrounds, Allies & Rivals

The Alien RPG establishes that player characters have Buddy and Rival characters. Buddies and Rivals help in determining experience points and support roleplaying. Backgrounds take some of the place for this, allowing characters to move between parties more smoothly and have a general posture towards new PCs and NPCs. Backgrounds--which can also be thought of as factions or alignments--also establish the general agenda for your character, though you may maintain a more specific, ongoing personal agenda as per typical Alien Roleplaying Game characters.

Backgrounds

Colonists are drawn from a variety of professional and cultural backgrounds. Backgrounds include:

• Devout: A significant portion of the Del Paraiso mission was backed by The Temple, warranting placement aboard the ship. Investment by the Temple has already funded the Devout background colonists, who are not liable for repayment of their associated share, though they maintain commitment to the Temple itself.
• Pioneer: Survival, construction, and agriculturally experienced individuals represents the vanguard of colonial efforts. Their skills are highly valued to aid in rapid founding of first colonies and subsidiary camps, including resource extraction zones.
• Paramilitary: Due to the loss of the USCSS Prometheus and the colony ship, The Covenant, military-trained personnel are standard issue aboard extrasolar vessels. This culture may be aligned with another (such as a corporate mercenary or a devout guard), or be specifically in it as the job.
• Corporate: Trained leadership to maintain structure, regular reporting, and repayment schedule regarding the Declaration and Deed of the Del Paraiso.
• Scientific: Professionally trained biologists, hydrologists, geologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and cartographers. An additional complement of engineers included to coordinate between Scientific and Pioneer backgrounds.

These five factions compose a five-pointed star of rival and ally cultures. Rather than have specific characters, each character is more sympathetic of their two adjacent factions and are more antagonistic to the remaining two. Backgrounds also come with an agenda to aligned with fulfilling your obligation to the mission, your faction, or yourself. In other words:

Devout

Agenda: The Temple seeks to uncover the mysteries of the Enoch system and evidence of advanced alien life and intelligence. The Temple has long believed, like Prometheus's Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, that humanity was born of the stars by an advanced race. Your job is to prove it.
Ally - Pioneer & Scientific
Rival - Corporate & Paramilitary

Pioneer

Agenda: Pioneers have bills to pay in the form of the Shareholder Agreement and are eager to make the Enoch System Survey profitable, most likely through resource extraction and trade. There is also a spirit of independence and an embrace of freedoms not found on Earth among Pioneers.
Ally - Paramilitary & Devout
Rival - Corporate & Scientific

Paramilitary

Agenda: Those trained to be soldiers--through traditional and less-than-traditional means, are here to do a job. They will be rewarded with either the equivalent of a share upon their service or a financial reimbursement of equivalent value (negotiated by the Settler and Seegson representative(s)). Many have aims of claiming a piece of the new frontier, some interested in retiring, others just enjoy the thrill of the job and the security of a paycheck.
Ally - Pioneer & Corporate
Rival - Devout & Scientific

Corporate

Agenda: As representatives of Seegson in the Enoch System, you insist on order and the success of the mission itself. If there are endeavors of interest to the Company, then they should be pursued. As corporate representatives, you have the most authority of any single faction. There are also many fewer Corporate representatives, so it is important to curry favor and enforce rule as needed. Ally - Paramilitary & Scientific

Rival - Pioneer & Devout

Scientific

Agenda: Scientific settlers are Settlers bound by the Shareholder Agreement as many others are, but knowledge is your stock and trade. Make discoveries, generate patents, and learn what may be discovered in the Enoch System.
Ally - Corporate & Devout
Rival - Pioneer & Paramilitary
In addition to roleplaying, these backgrounds inform Experience & Advancement and the allotment of experience points at the end of a session.